In the Hawk's Shadow
by theshadowchaser
Summary: Ash, Pikachu, Iris and Cilan return to Ash's home of Pallet Town after their adventures in Unova for a surprise reunion with all of Ash's old friends. But they soon realize that this is more than a friendly party when a mysterious stranger appears and offers Ash the ultimate challenge. My first published fanfic so please review! Rated T for possible mild language in future chapters
1. Back Home

**Chapter 1: Back Home  
**

"Wow, Ash, this is where you grew up?" asked Iris, looking around.

She, Ash, Pikachu and Cilan were just walking out of Viridian Forest, on their way back to Ash's home town of Pallet.

"Not here exactly," Ash replied over his shoulder. "It's another mile or so ahead."

"I heard that Pallet Town is the site of the famous Oak Laboratory," said Cilan. "Do you actually think we'll get to meet him in person?"

"Sure," Ash laughed. "Prof. Oak's a good buddy of mine. He's the one who gave me Pikachu on my first day as a trainer, right pal?"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu responded.

"So if Prof. Oak gave you Pikachu and your first pokedex, that must mean that all the pokemon you caught before we met are there too!" Iris exclaimed.

"Ew, Axew!" came a muffled exclamation from within Iris's mane of purple hair, and Axew emerged, clearly delighted to meet new potential friends.

"Yeah, I've got a whole bunch that you guys haven't even met. Come on, I want you to meet em!" Ash cried joyfully, and he quickened the pace. "In fact," he added. "ALL of my pokemon are there now since Professor Juniper sent Professor Oak Scraggy and Leavanny and the others over here."

"I wonder why she sent them back," Cilan wondered aloud. "In fact, I wonder why she called you at all."

"...yeah," Ash agreed, slowing down. "It is kinda weird."

Professor Juniper had called Ash, Iris, and Cilan over a week ago saying that she'd gotten a message from Professor Oak requesting Ash's return to Pallet for a 'special occasion'. Professor Oak had also asked Professor Juniper to send all of Ash's pokemon to his lab as well.

This by itself, though unexpected, was not very unusual, as Ash always took the traditional trip back home to his roots after each league competition before setting off on his next journey. What WAS unusual was that the Oak had also requested that Iris and Cilan accompany him. Both of them, though shocked, had agreed, eager to see the pokemon beyond Unova, as well as continue traveling with Ash and Pikachu.

"We should be able to see Pallet just over that hill," said Ash after twenty minutes or so. Eager to see his home again, he broke into a run, Pikachu by his side. Iris and Cilan shrugged at each other and a comment was passed between them involving a certain 'little kid', before they hurried to catch up to Ash.

As they reached the top of the hill, there, sure enough, was Ash's home of Pallet Town, nestled peacefully in a grassy valley, the small houses and country lanes dotting the otherwise serene landscape. On the far side of the valley, the famous Oak Laboratory stood out prominently on a hilltop, behind which, Ash knew, stretched a vast expanse of land dedicated to the pokemon reserve where the professor kept watch over all the pokemon he was entrusted with.

Ash sped up until he was almost running flat-out, Iris and Cilan huffing and puffing in his wake. He skidded to a stop outside his house and, without even waiting to knock, flung open the door and burst into the house, skidding a little on the freshly mopped wooden floor, and bellowing "MOM, I'M HOME!" so loudly that several Pidgey nesting in a nearby tree took flight in agitation.

"Well, hi there, honey!" Delia Ketchum's voice floated out towards them from the kitchen from where she was working. Ash, Iris and Cilan, now following their noses toward the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen nearly floated down the hall, but stopped dead in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Well hi there everyone!" Delia cried. "You must be Iris and Cilan, and this must be Axew. How CUTE! And hello again Pikachu!"

No one answered her. They were all staring, transfixed at what used to be Ash's mother's kitchen but now closely resembled the food-assembly area for a small army. There were rows upon rows of food covering almost every surface and every pot and pan was bubbling away merrily on the stove. Platters of completed dishes were stacked on the dining table and Delia herself was peering at them from between two mountains of potatoes she was peeling.

"Uhh, hi Mom," said Ash weakly. "Decided to do a little cooking eh?"

"Oh this?" Delia asked. "Well I heard you kids were coming home and decided to whip up a little something as a welcome home snack."

"A welcome home snack?" repeated Iris numbly. "This is more like a banquet!"

"Oh this is nothing!" Delia assured her. "Almost all the food is already over at Professor Oak's laboratory. I must say that man has quite a kitchen!"

"You have two kitchen's running at once?!" Cilan exclaimed. "You must be a very good cook to keep running back and forth like that!"

"Oh, no. I'm just in charge here! The real chef is up at the lab." Delia said, smiling. "Why don't you three go on over there now. I know he'll want to see you. I'll be along in a bit, I just need to finish up here."

"Oh, ok..." Ash said, more confused now than ever.

He and Pikachu left Delia and walked back down the garden path and up the dirt road toward the Professor's Lab, Iris and Cilan trailing behind him. He was thinking hard. His mother was one of the best cooks he knew, but she said that the real mastermind was up at the lab. That made it sound like she was taking cooking orders from someone else. And she had that HE was waiting for them. There were very few male cooks that he knew of, and even fewer that were better than his own mom. The only one that could come to mind was...

Ash stopped in his tracks so suddenly that Iris, who was behind him, nearly ran into him. He looked down at Pikachu.

"Pikachu, ya know who's up there?" he said excitedly, pointing toward Oak's Lab.

"Pi?" asked Pikachu, confused. Then, excitedly it cried; "Pika-Chu!"

"That's right! Brock's up there!" Ash shouted and took off for the lab. Pikachu, though delayed, easily caught up to Ash as he reached the gate to the steps leading up to the double doors of the Lab. As Ash made to push the gate open, Pikachu leaped clean through the bars and pelted up the steps, Ash hot on his tail.

Once at the top, Ash wrenched open the door sprinted down the hall, but had barely gotten five feet when something large, wet, and sticky collided with his shoulder and sent him toppling to the ground. Iris and Cilan, who had just come through the door, cried out in alarm, and started calling for help before they heard a muffled laugh coming from underneath the purple mass.

"Hey, Muk. I guess you missed me!" Ash said as he crawled back into view.

"Mumumu MUK!" bellowed Muk delightedly.

"This is your Muk?" Cilan asked.

"Yep. It likes to hang around with Professor Oak inside," Ash told him.

"And it makes a very effective alarm bell," came a familiar voice from down the hall.

There, sure enough, stood Brock, wearing an apron and holding an enormous bowl of fruit salad.

"BROCK!" Ash shouted. Scrambling up from the ground, he and Pikachu ran to greet their old friend.

"Hey Ash, Pikachu!" said Brock. "We heard you were coming and decided to prepare a little feast for everyone. So you must be Iris and Cilan. Ash told me all about you guys in his letters to me. It's nice to meet you in person!"

"Same here," Iris said. "Ash has told us that you're a great pokemon breeder and pokemon doctor and that you're also a great cook!"

"Well, I'm still training to become a pokemon doctor," Brock replied, blushing slightly at the praise. "I've been traveling around to different pokemon centers to work with different Nurse Joys to get as much experience as I can, but they all say I'm making wonderful progress. The Joy from Saffron City even agreed to dinner with me last week!" he sighed reminiscently.

"I'd love to evaluate the pokemon of a former breeder, Brock," said Cilan excitedly.

"Oh, yeah sure. I almost forgot that you were a pokemon connoisseur," said Brock. "How about you take a look after lunch."

"But wait a minute," Ash said suddenly. "If you're in training as a pokemon doctor, what are you doing back here?"

"Well, Professor Oak gave me a call about two weeks ago saying that you all were going to be coming back from the Unova region and that we were going to have a little party that I was invited too. I accepted and I arrived here about three days ago and have been busy cooking with your mom ever since." Brock replied. "You're actually the last to arrive."

"Last to arrive?" Ash repeated. "What do you mean? And where's Professor Oak?"

"Oh, he and Tracy went out a while back to do the lunch rounds for all the pokemon. They might still be out there."

"Actually Brock, we just got back in," came Professor Oak's voice as he walked through the open door from the sitting room. "Tracy's just finishing up downstairs. Ahh Ash, you're finally here! And Pikachu too! Wonderful. And you, must be Iris and Cilan," he said, looking over at them.

"Yes sir," replied Iris.

"Splendid!" exclaimed Prof. Oak. "Well, come on in, Ash. Everyone's waiting for you."

"Everyone...but who-?" Ash began, but that was all he could get out.

With a tremendous crash, what appeared to be a large blue bullet slammed into his stomach and sent him crashing to the floor again squealing incessantly.

"Pi...Piplup?" Ash gasped, fighting to refill his lungs with air.

"Well, it's about time, Ash," called Dawn as she emerged from the sitting room where she had evidently been waiting for him. And she wasn't alone either.

"Misty!" Ash cried, thoroughly shocked now.

"Hi there, Ash!" called Misty from the couch. "It's been a while!"

"Pikachupi!" cried Pikachu as he raced over to jump onto Misty's lap.

"Hi, Pikachu, how have you been?" Misty laughed.

"Wow, when did you-" Ash began, but he was interrupted again as shouts drifted to them through the balcony door.

Ash, Brock, Dawn, Misty, Iris and Cilan ran outside. At the sight of the scene before them, Dawn, Misty and Brock started laughing together, while Ash stared open-mouthed, and Iris and Cilan simply looked bemused.

Snorlax was lying in the grass below them breathing in and out deeply, so that the small boy on top of its stomach was rising and falling over a foot with every breath. Beside them, a girl was shouting at the top of her lungs.

"MAX GET OFF OF SNORLAX RIGHT NOW!"

"Hey, May! Long time no see!" Ash cried. At the sound of Ash's voice. Snorlax looked up, saw Ash, let out a delighted bellow and stood up. Max, who had been thrown up into the air by the force of its bellow, fell all the way back to the ground with a thump.

Laughing, everyone (except Snorlax) went back inside and sat down in the large sitting room overlooking one of the laboratory's meadows. Brock went back to the kitchen to get some drinks and snacks and by the time he'd returned, Tracy had joined the group after finishing his chores downstairs and all the introductions had been made. As Brock set the platter down, Ash spoke.

"So what are you all doing here?" Ash asked.

"Well, I DO kinda live here now," Tracy smirked, getting a good chuckle from the rest of the group.

"About two weeks ago, I got a call from Professor Oak," said Dawn. "He said that you were returning home after you Unova League challenge and that I was invited to a reunion of sorts. I had just finished competing in the Johto grand festival and thought it was a great idea, so I started back here. I arrived about four days ago."

"I got almost the exact same call," said May. "Only difference was I was back home by then, so I had to ask permission from Mom and Dad if I could come. Of course they both agreed, but then Max asked to come as well, and I finally agreed to let him come, since he didn't come with me on my journey through Johto."

"Mine was a little different," Misty admitted. "I got the call about a week ago and it was really hard for me to get here."

"Didn't you want to see me again Misty?" asked Ash, slightly crestfallen.

"Of course, Ash!" Misty assured him. "But my sisters were on yet another vacation and I didn't want to just leave the Gym unattended. But Prof. Oak told me that I was requested specifically, so I thought I'd better make it work. I didn't want to let you down. I'm actually flattered that you thought to add me to the invitation list."

"I could never forget about you Misty," said Ash smiling. But then he frowned. "But I never told Prof. Oak to call you."

"What? So you DID forget about me!" Misty said, and though her voice was raised characteristically, a keen observer would note that it did start to shake somewhat.

"No, you don't understand," Ash said hastily. "I didn't ask Professor Oak to call ANY of you. I didn't even ask for a party when I got back,. In fact, Professor Oak's the one who called ME and requested I come back. I thought that this was all supposed to be a surprise for me that you all had planned."

"Huh?" Max asked, speaking for the first time. "You didn't know that we would be here?"  
"No, I had no idea this would be happening!" Ash exclaimed.

At this point Professor Oak cleared his throat.

"I suppose that's my queue," he sighed. "I contacted each of you individually and requested that you come back here to Pallet Town for a reunion of sorts. I also requested that each one of you bring all of your pokemon to stay here for the duration of your stay. I thought we could have a little lunch party together and after that, I had something to tell all of you."

"What is it, Professor?" asked Brock.

"Yeah, this is the first I've heard about any important information," said Max curiously.

"Now, now. Eat first, then I'll tell you, " said the professor placatingly.

"Hang on!" Ash said suddenly. "You call us all here individually. You don't tell any of us the real reason, and you keep all of us on our own in the dark. I'm not 10 years old anymore, Professor. I can tell that something's up. What's going on?"

"Now, there's no reason to get upset," said Prof. Oak, looking put upon. "I merely thought it would be a nice surprise for everyone to see each other again and-"

"It's alright, Samuel. I'll take it from here," said a voice from behind them.


	2. The Hawk Descends

**Chapter 2: The Hawk Descends**

"_It's alright, Samuel. I'll take it from here," said a voice from behind them. _

Everyone in the room except Prof. Oak nearly jumped out of their skins at the sound of the voice. Ash turned and saw the cloaked figure of a man moving down the stairs. His face was obscured by a hood, and he was moving so smoothly and so silently, that his feet could barely be heard as he reached the bottom of the steps.

"Who are you?" Brock asked.

The man did not reply for a very long time. Finally he turned and surveyed Brock appraisingly, almost as if he was pondering how best to answer.

At last he said, "Names have power, and thus they should not be given in haste. For now, know that I am a close friend of your Professor here, and that you are in no danger from me."

"Indeed," Oak assured them. "He's a very old friend of mine."

"Oh, ok then. Please join us, I'll run and fetch you something to eat," Brock said hastily.

"That would be most welcome," replied the man. Though you needn't worry about any drink for me."

"Couldn't you tell us your name, sir?" asked May tentatively. "It's kind of awkward to keep calling you _sir _and _mister_."

"As I have said," the man replied smoothly. "True names bestow power upon those entrusted with them, yet I do understand your point. For the moment, you may call me..." he paused, considering.

"Ebrethil." he finished. The corners of his mouth twitched as he said the name, as though he was enjoying a private joke.

"Eb-re-thil?" Ash repeated, struggling over the name.

"It's a beautiful name," said Dawn.

"Indeed. I do enjoy it," said Ebrethil. "You must understand that 'Ebrethil' is not my true name, though you may learn it in time."

Ebrethil then crossed the room and lowered his hood, revealing his face to them. He looked to be in his late twenties, with long blonde hair and piercingly blue eyes. His blonde hair fell down past his shoulders over his cloak, which they could now see was pure white. The overall effect was rather impressive. His form in and of itself was physically unimposing, yet Ash thought the man had a..._presence_...about him that he, Ash, couldn't quite place. It was not the flamboyant aura that had surrounded Wallace or Alder, nor was it the stone hard determination and unwavering confidence of Lance. Ash thought it was similar to the quiet grace that Cynthia displayed, only much more so.

He sat down in one of the armchairs and surveyed them all, his eyes passing over every one of them. Before anyone got up the courage to ask him anything however, Brock returned with the food.

"Ahh, excellent. Thank you, Brock," exclaimed Ebrethil.

Brock jumped. "You-you know my name?"

"Oh, yes," Ebrethil replied smiling. "I know all of your names, in fact."

"You know all of our names? Who exactly are you?" asked Misty.

"First thing's first, my dear Misty," said Ebrethil with a gentle, amused smile. "In this case, the first thing happens to be lunch. I'm starving."

"Me too!" Ash exclaimed, and dove for the food. After a pause, the rest followed suit with Prof. Oak drawing up a chair to join them.

As everyone reached for their various beverages, Ebrethil again declined anything to drink from Brock. Instead, he reached into the folds of his cloak and, from an inside pocket, drew out a large flask of highly polished wood. Uncorking it, he took a swig from it's contents and, apparently satisfied, stowed the flask back within the folds of his cloak.

For at least ten minutes the only sounds were those of the clinking of silverware on plates. Then, finally, Ebrethil put down his plate and sat back.

"Alright," he said, smiling. "I can tell from the way you've been steeling glances at me for the past ten minutes that you're desperate to start asking questions, so...ask away!"

"How long have you known Prof. Oak?" asked May.

"Many years. Since before he was a professor," Ebrethil answered.

"What are you doing here at the lab?" asked Dawn.

"Honestly? I was waiting here for you," replied Ebrethil simply.

He smiled as nine pairs of startled eyes fixed on him.

"Oh yes," he said, smiling. "I have been waiting a very VERY long time to meet all of you. Especially you, Ash," he told Ash.

"...Me?" Ash repeated. "Why me?"

"Why not?" asked Ebrethil. "You are a very skilled pokemon trainer and you have been in six pokemon leagues so far. Did you really think that your actions had gone unnoticed? I've been watching you for a very long time, and I deemed the time appropriate to finally meet face to face."

"Wait a minute," cried Iris. "Does that mean that YOU'RE the reason we're all here."

"Very good indeed, young Dragon Master," said Ebrethil, smiling still wider. Iris started in surprise when he addressed her thus.

"Yes, I requested that Samuel here contact each of you to come hear so that we could have this little meeting."

"Why?"

"I thought the time was right to talk to Ash, and I also wanted to meet everyone who'd influenced him so much since he'd become a pokemon trainer. In truth, I wish to have a pokemon battle with him. With all of you in fact."

"All of us?" Cilan spluttered.

"Yes, I think so," said Ebrethil seriously. "I'd like to see what the Chosen One's made for himself."

Ash, who had been taking a long swig from his bottle of root beer, choked and sprayed a quarter of the bottle across the table, hitting Max in the face.

"WHAT did you call me?" he spluttered.

"You were the Chosen One," said Ebrethil matter-of-factly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ash said quickly.

"Oh Ash," sighed Ebrethil, shaking his head and looking amused. "You've never been a good liar, have you?"

"What do you-?"

"If you didn't know what I was talking about, how come you immediately knew I was talking about you?"

Ash froze. Ebrethil smiled.

"If you're going to keep lying, at least learn to lie better," he admonished gently. "I told you that I'd been following your exploits for many years. I know all about your encounter with Lugia in the Orange Islands, not to mention your run-ins with other legendary pokemon over the years. They wouldn't have chosen you if you didn't have any potential. I'm interested to see what's become of that potential. Call it a test, if you will."

"A test...a test for what exactly?" interjected Brock.

"Put simply, an invitation."

Seeing that nobody was following him, Ebrethil sighed.

"I guess I should explain more fully. I'm in the process of putting together a special team of elite pokemon trainers. I have been searching for such trainers for many years, often without success. I have been keeping watch on all of you because I believe that Ash fits the criteria I'm looking for.

"How can I be an elite trainer?" Ash asked, stunned. "I haven't won any of the Pokemon Leagues I've been in!"

"If I was only judging you by how many battles you've won, then you'd be right," agreed Ebrethil. "Though I am confident in saying that, given the chance, you could've won the Sinnoh League under different circumstances."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on, Ash," chided Ebrethil, sounding slightly impatient now. "You lost against Tobias, right?"

"Yeah..."

"You took out both his Darkrai AND his Latios, correct?"

"Yeah..."

"None of the other trainers at the league were able to defeat his Darkrai, not only did you defeat it, you also defeated the second consecutive legendary pokemon that he used against you! I think that puts you a cut above the rest of the trainers, don't you?"

"I guess so," Ash muttered, the glow of pride in his stomach rising to his chest.

"But that's beside the point. I'm looking for skill and strength, yes. But I'm also looking for other qualities that can't be so easily identified by spectators. The only way I can truly know your strengths is if I test you myself."

"With a pokemon battle, you mean?" Ash said excitedly. "All right. Let's do it right now."

"Patience, Ash. Patience," sighed Ebrethil. "We will have a battle, and I assure you that it will surpass anything you've ever experienced, but first, I'd like the honor of battling your companions. They have all contributed to your strength, talents, and character over the years. I must admit to curiosity about their true talents."

"Uhhh, thank you, sir," said May, taken aback. "But I don't see how we can be more powerful than Ash. I mean, Dawn and I didn't start our journeys until long after he did."

"True," conceded Ebrethil. "But in your cases I will not be looking for the same things I will be with Ash. I will not be testing you the same way. Your battling strengths, however impressive did not make him a better trainer. It was your remarkable strength of character and virtue that made him into the remarkable trainer who sits here with us today."

Ash was having a great deal of difficulty trying not to look too pleased with himself.

Ebrethil rose and Ash and his friends did likewise.

"If you are agreeable, we will begin tomorrow at noon," Ebrethil said to the room at large. "Samuel, might I impose upon you to utilize a stretch of your magnificent field as the staging area?"

"But of course," laughed Prof. Oak. "I'll be there myself, along with half the town most likely. I wouldn't miss this for all the Red Gyarados in the world!"

"You really think that a lot of people would be watching?" Iris asked, sounding slightly nervous now.

"Of course!" Oak replied. "People usually have to pay hundreds of dollars to get tickets to something like this. No one here would pass up the opportunity to see the Hawk in Flight up close!"

Prof. Oak suddenly stopped dead, and shot a guilty look at Ebrethil, who fixed him with a slightly aggrieved expression.

"What does that mean?" asked Misty.

"That's the phrase that the media has adopted for whenever I take part in Pokemon battles or contests," sighed Ebrethil with a resigned look on his face. "I adopted a stage name that apparently took off with the crowds...Starhawk."

He grimaced as Brock gasped out loud, Misty clapped her hand to her mouth, and Max nearly drooled with excitement. Prof. Oak smoothly took up the slack of the conversation.

"Well, I think we should all get ready for tomorrow, you all have a lot of work to do, and you all need to rest to be ready for the matches. I know I do...and I'm not even battling," he finished with a laugh.

"Alright, then, see ya!" Ash called to Ebrethil, as he stood up and prepared to go and find the rest of his pokemon. His friends followed, Brock and Max still staring in awe at Ebrethil.

"One last thing, if you please," Ebrethil called out to them. "Of course you will all try your hardest tomorrow, but please don't be too disappointed it if you unsuccessful in the matches."

"Hah, I won't need to be disappointed, because I'm gonna win it!" Ash declared. "After all, like you said, I DID almost win the Sinnoh League."

Ebrethil smiled at him gently. "I wouldn't have expected any other reaction from you, Ash Ketchum. Until tomorrow, then."

And, with that, he strode past them, out into the fields, where he vanished behind a family of Rhyhorn that were grazing nearby.

"He's so cool," Ash cried. "I can't wait for tomorrow!"

"Ash!" cried Max. "Do you have any idea who that was?"

"Uhh..." Ash grinned sheepishly. "Not really."

"You mean that you've never heard of the Starhawk before?" Max demanded. "I thought everyone had!"

"The Starhawk is one of the most famous, yet secretive pokemon trainers in the world," Brock told Ash. His voice was oddly subdued, possibly from shock.

"The Starhawk surfaced around twenty years ago, as a mysterious trainer in the Indigo League. He was an unknown. No supporters, no known family, not even a confirmed name. He proceeded to systematically conquer the entire league. He swept every battle he was in. Since then, he's disappeared and resurfaced in Johto, Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and even Unova. In each region he mopped the floor with every challenger who faced him. There are unconfirmed rumors that he's even defeated several of the various Elite Four members, though never in public battles."

"And yet," Misty cut in. "Throughout all that, no solid information has ever been confirmed about him. No one knows where he lives, who his family is, or even his right name. He just seemingly appeared one day and proceeded to humiliate the most powerful trainers in the world without missing a beat."

Ash stared at them.

"THAT was who just walked out that door?"

Before he could do more than splutter over his next sentence, Prof. Oak spoke up.

"Consider yourselves very lucky, all of you," he said sternly. "An experience like this does not come about more than once in a lifetime. Now, I suggest that you all prepare for tomorrow. Ebrethil has given you a great honor. It would not do for you to perform below your very best for him tomorrow."

xxxxxxxxx

_All right. That's chapter 2. I promise the upcoming chapters will be longer and satisfyingly action-packed._

_In case some of you are wondering, Yes, '_Ebrethil'_ is a variation of '_Ebrithil_', the Inheritance Series' elven word for 'master'. There will be an explanation for this in the sequel to this story, the outline for which I'm currently working on._

_I hope to have the next chapter up within a day or so, so stay tuned! And, as always, please review :)_


	3. Tag Team Troubles

**Chapter 3: Tag Team Troubles**

True to the Professor's prediction, by 11:30 the following morning, the back porch of the Laboratory and the surrounding meadow had been annexed by what seemed to be most of Pallet Town ( ie. everyone who wasn't in school) as well as anyone in Viridian City lucky enough to hear about the matches. Well over a hundred people were in attendance reclining in lawn chairs, or else laying out picnic blankets on the grass. Every now an again, an occasional shriek signaled to everyone that yet another specimen of hygienic indiscretion had been found. The volume and intensity of the shriek was a relatively accurate gauge of exactly HOW it had been found.

(A/N: For those of you who missed the meaning of that joke...essentially, the crowd would occasionally discover the pokemon's droppings that were littered all over the ground. I'm sorry if I got too...elegant in my description, but this was one of those opportunities I couldn't pass up :). Now, on with the show!)

From inside the house and safely out of reach, sight, or call of the spectators, Ash and his friends were sitting together in Prof. Oak's living room. No one was talking much, they were all thinking about their battles. Ash was frantically going over and over which pokemon he should use, having no idea which pokemon Ebrethil himself had.

"Ahh, if only I had a knife," murmured a soft voice from the doorway. It was not loud, or sudden, yet everyone in the room started as though they'd been given an electric shock. They turned to see Ebrethil grinning at them.

"If I had a knife," he went on. "Then I could see whether or not the atmosphere in here is thick enough to cut. I could feel the tension billowing from this room from all the way downstairs!"

"We're tense from the upcoming battle," May said.

"It's not as if we've ever done something like this before," Iris added.

"Indeed," Brock murmured, almost to himself.

Ash didn't trust himself to speak.

"Oh come now!" said Ebrethil a little harshly. "There's no reason to get all worked up over a friendly unofficial match! Now I'm starting to regret ever introducing myself."

"What are you talking about?" asked Dawn.

"If I had never told you who I was or why I was here would you be like this now? Of course not. You'd be out with your pokemon warming up for your matches! You'd be treating this like any other match."

As the others looked at him blankly, he sighed.

"I don't want you to think of today as battling a legend. Think of it instead as battling a new tough opponent. Feel the excitement. Light the spark within yourselves. It was that spark that drew me to each one of you, and it was my yearning to see that spark up close that motivated me to arrange this. Without that spark, I'm sort of wasting my time here." he finished with a sad smile.

"I guess that makes sense," Misty pondered.

"And, speaking of unbeatable legends...I understand that you have taken down your fair share of those in your time," Ebrethil finished, looking at Ash.

His words roused Ash from his brooding. He smiled, then suddenly leaped to his feet, all nervousness gone.

"Yeah! You're right! We can do this, right buddy?"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"Let's do this!" shouted May. "I'm ready for anything!"

"Yeah!"

"Bring it on!"

"Splendid!" cried Ebrethil, who couldn't have looked more pleased than if he'd just found out that Ho-Oh had returned. "Now then, down to business."

He motioned for Ash to move to the side so as to isolate him from his friends. Ash hesitated, then complied. Moving to stand over close to the bookshelf. Ebrethil gave him a reassuring smile before turning and addressing his friends.

"I will be facing each of you in full six on six pokemon battles. All of us will be able to switch our pokemon out at any time, there will be no time limits for any of the battles. I will work backwards through Ash's history, challenging each of you in reverse order. In other words, I will spar with Cilan first, since he is the most recent to join your little team, and I will be challenging Misty last...no, wait."

Ebrethil seemed to consider for a moment, and then corrected himself. "Actually I will request that Brock referee the matches, so he will be the last I fight. Misty, I'd be honored if you'd consent to be scooted up in my roster."

He spoke the last words in a slightly lower voice, one that more resembled a purr, and Misty turned a shade of scarlet that clashed magnificently with her orange hair, though Ash could make neither heads nor tails of the scene. Ebrethil's smile seemed to falter slightly as he looked at her, but then he seemed to shake off whatever it was that had caused him unrest.

"What about Ash?" asked Dawn.

"Oh, don't worry...I have something special planned for him!" Ebrethil assured her, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Now, any other questions?"

"Um, Mr. Hawk, sir, I-" began Iris tentatively, but she stuttered to a halt as Ebrethil began to laugh.

He laughed so hard that many of the spectators out in the field turned their heads interestedly towards the balcony door. His laugh filled the room, bouncing off the walls and floor, and yet it was not unpleasant to experience, rather it felt and sounded like a bird breaking into song...if that bird was six feet tall with a much deeper voice, of course. Finally, he collapsed onto the couch, wheezing for breath and staring at Iris through streaming eyes.

"I'm, hic, sorry. But that's...the first time...I've ever been...called Mr. Hawk," he gasped, and then burst into more peals of laughter. It took him nearly a minute to regain his composure. When he finally did, he looked at Iris again and politely waited for her to finish her sentence.

"Well, sir, its just that...well, I don't really have 6 pokemon yet, Neither does Cilan...you see-"

"Arceus's Judgment smite me down!" cried Ebrethil in an aggrieved tone. "I'm so sorry. I completely forgot. Yes, yes of course. You only have four, and Cilan has three..."

He sat in thought for a moment before smiling and saying. "Mo matter. We can have a six on six double battle with the two of you battling me. Three pokemon each! Does that sound ok?"

"Oh yes, sir! Thank you!" said Iris, visibly relieved, and she hurried over to Cilan to start discussing tactics.

"This could complicate matters," Ebrethil muttered, almost to himself it seemed. "But not completely irreparable."

He turned, and leaving the others to their devices, he joined Ash by the wall of books.

"Ash, we will be fighting last, for two reasons," Ebrethil told him in a low voice. "Firstly because I have something special planned for it, and secondly because I want to battle all of your friends first. They've rubbed off on you over the years and I want to see which of your traits are 'picked up' and which are original. I can only do that if I know the traits that the others possess beforehand."

"Ok, I get it," Ash said, trying to hide his disappointment. He had been hoping to battle Ebrethil as soon as possible, eager to test himself. Now it would seem that he would have to be patient.

And patience is not a virtue that Ash Ketchum was known for.

"If it helps," suggested Ebrethil, who seemed to have picked up on Ash's emotions. "Think of it this way: There's a big audience out there who're excited for a show...why not save our best act till last?" he smiled down at Ash, and Ash grinned back.

Across the room, a the clock chimed noon. Outside, Tracy let loose a long, shivering note on the gong he was manning, signaling the start of the matches.

"And speaking of which," Ebrethil said, looking around. "I believe that this is the start of Act 1!" he winked at Ash, and waved at everyone before turning and walking, not out onto the balcony, but down the hall, away from the crowd and the action.

"Where's he going?" wondered May out loud.

"Maybe he needs to, ahh, _relieve_ himself before performance," muttered Dawn into her ear, and the two girls erupted into quiet giggles.

Iris and Cilan, meanwhile were staring at the large battlefield that had been chalked out on the grass. Neither of them spoke, and Ash had the distinct impression that they'd become sick, if either opened their mouths. Brock seemed to notice this and laid a hand on their shoulders.

"Remember what the Hawk said. He's come here to see you fight, you need to find that battling spirit. Don't worry about identities right now. Just battle like you always have done and you'll do fine! You just need to relax."

"Relax...oh _yeah,_ we'll get right on that!" Iris snarled at him. But his words did at least help to bring her back to the present. She took a deep breath and looked sideways at Cilan, who nodded grimly. Together, they walked out into the sunlight.

ooooooo

"Welcome one and all!" cried prof. Oak into a portable microphone. "To our very own Pallet Town special exhibition battle! Without further ado, let me introduce the contestants in the first match of the day, which, as I have just been informed at _very_ late notice, will be a full double battle!" He shot a glare towards the sitting room as he finished, causing several of the onlookers (not to mention the occupants of the sitting room) to snicker loudly.

"Here, all they way from the Unova region, is Iris, a budding Dragon Master from the Village of Dragons, and the protegé of Drayden, the legendary Dragon Master of the Opelucid City Gym!"

Praising Arceus for the tan skin that helped mask her furious blush, Iris strode out onto the battle field and took up a position on the right hand side, closest to the spectators.

"And battling with her today, also from Unova," Oak continued. "The Gym Leader of the Striaton City gym, as well as an A-class Pokemon Connoisseur, Cilan!"

Cilan looked mortified. "I'm not the only gym leader there! My two brothers and I run it together!" he whispered frantically to the others, who were grouped behind them.

"Yes, but you're the only one who's here right now, so GO!" urged Brock, giving him a little push onto the battlefield to stand beside Iris.

"And now," shouted Oak, who was clearly loving the opportunity he'd been given as MC. "The special guest of honor today, a man as famous as he is mysterious, the living legend himself, the STARHAWK!"

Everyone cheered, leaping to their feet and looking around excitedly. But there was no sign of Ebrethil anywhere. As the applause subsided, Ash looked around, confused.

"Where is he?"

The crowd was whispering together, looking around. Some had the same confused look as Ash, but some were merely looking excited. Professor Oak, Ash saw, showed neither confusion, nor excitement, only, a gentle smile of mixed anticipation and mild exasperation, as if he had expected something like this. At last, he spoke into the microphone again.

"Ahh. At last he graces us with his presence."

Right on cue, there was a tremendous call from above. All heads turned to see a shadow falling out of the sky. It was moving so fast, that no one could clearly discern what it was. It was speeding towards the ground like a bullet. Someone started to scream as the shadow came nearer and nearer, dangerously close to the ground with no sign of slowing down. It was aiming directly for the spot where Ash was standing, transfixed. May, Dawn and Misty ran for cover, while Brock, after tugging hopelessly on Ash's arm, tackled him to the ground as the shadow bore down upon them. With less than a yard between them, the shadow suddenly flared two enormous wings, and with a colossal rush of air, leveled out from a vertical dive with mere feet to spare. The wind from the sudden change in acceleration through dust and leaves everywhere, just barely missing the crowd of onlookers.

Coughing, Ash rolled over and saw a huge Pidgeot gliding swiftly in a smooth arc around the perimeter of the meadow. Ash knew that a normal Pidgeot was around 4'11' when standing on its feet, but this one looked to be nearly six feet long as it swept back towards them. It was only then that Ash realized that there was a figure resting on the back of the great bird, a figure with long golden hair and piercingly blue eyes that were at the moment, twinkling merrily as the figure let loose his joyous laughter on the world once more.

Ash stared in shock. Never mind the dangers of a near vertical dive. How on earth did they manage to level out so quickly and smoothly without Ebrethil getting thrown off? According to everything Ash _thought_ he knew, banking out of a dive at those speeds simply wasn't possible.

Ash expected Pidgeot to land to let Ebrethil off after the show, or for Ebrethil to finish up by performing some sort of extravagant leap from midair into his corner. After this display, he doubted anything could surprise him.

Of all his various musings, only one was correct. Ebrethil did jump, performed an upside-down pirouette in mid-air...and swan-dived into the small lake beside the battlefield. There were shouts of surprise from the crowd. No one had been expecting that. After what seemed like a few minutes, but was really only a few seconds, the water began to churn and a huge twister rose out of the water high into the sky, spraying water in all directions, but again, none if it seemed to reach beyond the water's edge. As the twister receded back into the water, it revealed Ebrethil, eyes closed, kneeling upon the head of what had to be the most beautiful Milotic he'd ever seen, its tiny rainbow scales glistening with water, it's body balanced perfectly on its tail, just below the surface.

The crowd erupted into frantic cheers and Ash joined in enthusiastically. It didn't even matter that they would soon be opponents. That was a truly phenomenal entrance.

Ebrethil descended from Milotic in one fluid motion and, stroking it gently, muttered words of thanks and praise and recalled it to its pokeball. Turning to his Pidgeot, he stroked its feathers and spoke a few words to it, before it nudged him affectionately, spread it's wings, and flew off, presumably to go hunting.

Ebrethil meanwhile, walked over to the battlefield. As he neared, Ash realized with a jolt that Ebrethil's clothes were perfectly dry! It was as if the laws of physics had personally offended Ebrethil in the past, so now he was taking every opportunity to not rise above them, but publicly humiliate them in front of an audience!

The source of Ash's musings turned and acknowledged the still-cheering crowd with a casual wave of his hand and a faint smile, though Ash could tell he looked slightly wearied by the attention, and he looked visibly relieved when Prof. Oak called the crowd to order again so that the match could begin.

ooooo

"The double battle between Cilan and Iris and the Starhawk will now begin!" called Brock, who would be refereeing all matches (save his own, of course). "Each side will use 6 pokemon and the battle will be over when all of either side's pokemon are no longer able to continue. Furthermore, neither side may rotate their pokemon at any time during the battle. There will be no time limit. Trainers, release your first pokemon!"

"Alright, Excadrill, let's go!" Iris shouted, throwing up her pokeball and watching as it sprang open to reveal the powerful steel type.

"Pansage, you're up!" called out Cilan, summoning the grass monkey to his side.

Ebrethil considered them for a moment, evidently pondering, then smiled.

"Well thought out. You've teamed a Excadrill with Pansage to balance each other out. A strong defense to shield a strong offense. Very good opening strategy indeed."

He pulled two pokeballs from within the folds of his white cloak and tossed them up in a perfect arc.

There was a flash of light and two pokemon stood before Iris and Cilan. Iris's eyes hardened in concentration as she locked eyes with the fearsome red and blue dragon before her. A Salamence. She could tell from the smile on Ebrethil's face as he watched her reaction, that this was her test. An aspiring Dragon Master against a powerful dragon type. Cilan meanwhile, was craning his neck to look up into the unreadable expression of the tall read and orange pokemon before him.

"Uhh, guys," he called out, his voice uncharacteristically high. "I'm still a little rusty on my pokemon species outside of Unova. What...what exactly is that?"

"A Blaziken," May responded grimly. She'd recognized the powerful Fire/Fighting type immediately, as she had one herself.

"This is not going to be easy," Brock muttered under his breath. Ash understood what he meant. Both Blaziken and Salamence had a natural array of fire type moves and Salamence also had some Flying based moves as well, which meant that Pansage, a grass type was in serious trouble. Even if Excadrill tried to defend Pansage, physical defense wouldn't be much use, seeing as it's steel attributes made it weak against fire as well. Furthermore, there was the fact that Salamence was a Flying type, so almost none of Excadrill's ground type moves would have any chance of landing a hit. Add to that steel's additional weakness to Blaziken's Fighting-type moves...if Iris and Cilan didn't come up with something and work as a team, this first round could go _very_ wrong _very_ quickly.

"Begin!" Brock shouted.

"Pansage, quick! Use Rock Tomb on Salamence!" Cilan cried.

"Excadrill, use Drill Run on Blaziken!"

Excadrill snapped itself shut and shot at Blaziken, spinning it's whole body around as it did so, becoming a living drill. Blaziken glanced at its trainer who merely nodded, and turned back to the battle just in time to narrowly avoid the powerful ground-based move. Meanwhile Pansage, slammed its arms into the ground, a split second later, thick slabs of stone shot out of the ground surrounding Salamence, encasing it and pinning it on the battlefield, unable to fly away.

"Very good indeed," complimented Ebrethil again, nodding. "Trapping Salamence with a super-effective rock type move which has the added bonus effect of making him unable to fly away and take to the skies. Meanwhile distracting Blaziken with a powerful move that he'd be forced to dodge, leaving no time to counter Pansage's attack before it's too late...however...Blaziken, if you will?"

And before Cilan could do more than cry out in shock, Blaziken had sped across the field in one powerful lightning fast slide and slammed into Pansage with a powerful Blaze Kick. The force of the blow sent Pansage sprawling backwards through the air, it's body scorched from the heat. It slammed into the ground, sliding painfully through the dirt leaving a small indented trail behind it, as if it had been the crash site of a miniature UFO, finally come to rest at Cilan's feet.

"...By having Excadrill leave its position to attack, and especially because the momentum from that attack would propel Excadrill to the other side of the field, you sacrificed your defense and left yourself open," Ebrethil finished, watching Cilan with a sad smile.

"Pansage is unable to battle! The first win goes to Ebrethil!" Brock announced.

Cilan recalled Pansage in silence. Iris said nothing, neither did Ash, nor anyone else. May was staring at Blaziken in shock. She had always taken pride in the fact that she had a Blaziken. It was her first ever pokemon that she'd received from Prof. Birch as a Torchic, and remained her strongest pokemon and her partner, winning many of her hardest contest battles for her. But compared to the Blaziken who had by now resumed his position beside the tomb covering Salamence, she knew that her Blaziken was so thoroughly outclassed that it would seem almost humorous to a third-party observer.

At this thought, she through a hasty look around at her friends and knew, by the way that their gazes were flickering back and forth between her and the battlefield that they were thinking along the same lines as her. She glared at them, daring them to make a remark or joke, but Ash didn't think he'd ever been less inclined to joke in his life.

Back on the battlefield, Cilan was fumbling for his next pokeball. Ebrethil was watching him calmly, letting him take his time.

"Crustle, help me out!" he called. There was a flash, and the large rock crab appeared to face Blaziken. Ebrethil raised his eyebrows.

"You sure about that, Cilan?"

"Of course. You know as well as I do, that type matchups don't decide a battle," Cilan retorted.

"Fair enough," Ebrethil responded smoothly.

"Begin!" Brock shouted, signaling the start of the second round.

This time, on a signal from Cilan, Iris took point, evidently imputing a strategy that they'd developed before the start of the battle.

"Excadrill, Fury Swipes, Go!"

"Excaaadrill! Drill! Drill!" roared Excadrill, punctuating every cry with a slash as it hacked at Blaziken with shining white, razor-sharp claws.

"Crustle, now's our chance! Use Shell Smash!" Cilan cried.

"What's Shell Smash?" Dawn asked the group at large. Ash, who had seen that move before, answered.

"It's a move that lowers the users defense, while at the same time, raising its attack. It's sort of like the Power Trick move that Conway's Shuckle used on me during the Sinnoh league, except in that case, the Attack and Defense abilities were completely reversed...a slightly more extreme version," he added with a grimace, remembering how much trouble that move had caused him.

"Well, it certainly looks impressive," said Misty, as she watched Crustle leap out of its protective shell and generate a halo of dark red energy around its body.

"Good job!" Cilan told it, encouragingly. "Now let's charge up a Rock Wrecker!"

"Crustle!" replied Crustle in affirmative, before it focused the red energy in between it's claws, which immediately started forming into a large boulder. Meanwhile Excadrill had Blaziken backed up against the wall of the rock slabs that had encased Salamence. It was still slashing at it furiously, but even though Blaziken was pinned against the Rock Tomb with no escape, it still managed to dodge every one of Excadrill's furious attacks.

Ash knew that this had been their strategy. To force Blaziken into a corner while forcing it to remain on defense while Crustle had time to maximize its attack power and then charge up a Rock Wrecker, one of the most powerful Rock-type moves in the book. If they could time it right, Blaziken would take a lot of punishment.

Ash glanced at Ebrethil, but to his shock, Ebrethil stood still, calm as ever, watching the ensuing battle with that same small smile on his face. Why wasn't he attacking? If he didn't do anything soon, Blaziken would be hit by a super-effective move, and Blaziken was backed up against the remnants of the Rock Tomb...the Rock Tomb!

With a stab of horror, Ash realized what Ebrethil was planning just as Cilan opened his mouth to give the command.

"No, Cilan! Don't!" screamed Ash. Too late.

"Fire!" shouted Cilan.

With a grunt of effort, Crustle fired the boulder straight at the struggling pair.

"Now!" barked Ebrethil.

Then many things happened at once. Blaziken, in a burst of speed, grabbed Excadrill around the middle, crouched, and leapt high into the sky, cleanly avoiding the oncoming boulder. Meanwhile, said boulder slammed into the rocky prison with tremendous force and caused said prison to crumble into dust, releasing the dragon trapped within. It was at this point that said dragon took advantage of its freedom to fire an enormous burst of flames directly at his bug/rock-type opponent, who, most unfortunately had discarded his armored rock shell only seconds before, leaving him completely defenseless. At the same time that this was happening, Blaziken spun effortlessly in the air and, wielding the 90 pound steel type with no more effort than if it was a soccer ball, slammed into the ground to deliver a devastating seismic toss.

In order to grasp the magnitude of these events, it is important to take into account the amount of time involved. In conclusion, less than 5 seconds after Cilan had ordered his Crustle to fire the Rock Wrecker attack, both his and Iris' pokemon were defeated, and now both of Ebrethil's pokemon were once more in the match.

If the onlookers had felt shocked before, it was nothing to how they felt now.

"But...what just-" Dawn spluttered.

Ash was too stunned to speak. He had seen the trap, that they'd fallen into but he never expected the speed with which both Blaziken and Salamence reacted they knew exactly what to do, and their movements were synchronized perfectly.

"Stunfisk, help us out!" cried Cilan throwing out his third and final pokemon.

"Excadrill, you did a great job," Iris said, smiling sadly, "Time to ret-"

But to everyone's surprise, especially Blaziken's, Excadrill was not lying defeated at Blaziken's feet. In fact the only thing at Blaziken's feet was a small hole that Excadrill had dug and escaped into at the exact moment that the pair of them landed back on the battlefield.

"Excadrill?" Iris asked tentatively.

There was an explosion of earth right behind Blaziken, who turned just in time to dodge as Excadrill burst into sight above ground, facing away from everyone as it landed, so that the extent of it's injuries was unknown.

"Excadrill, are you alright?" Iris called desperately, running onto the battlefield. Ash watched anxiously, but couldn't help but notice how Ebrethil's eyes followed Iris' movements intently.

Excadrill shuddered and fell to one knee, still not facing anyone. Blaziken turned it's back on it and started walking back to its position beside Salamence. The next second however, Excadrill turned in one fluid motion and let everyone see what it was holding between it's hands...a fully charged Focus Blast!

Blaziken realized its mistake a split-second too late. Excadrill fired the energy pulse at it at point-blank range and, with an almighty crash, Blaziken smashed into a nearby tree.

"YES!"

The shout was echoed on all sides as Ash and his friends cheered, and the crowd bellowed its approval. It was the first hit that had been landed against Ebrethil's team. Surprisingly, Ebrethil seemed just as happy as any of the spectators.

"Excellent!" he shouted. "Very well done!" he looked over at Iris and smiled at her. "Your Excadrill is quite something. Few steel types could've taken Blaziken's Seismic Toss and be able to make that kind of comeback."

Blaziken, who had just finished excruciating itself from the remains of the tree that it had crashed into, looked reproachfully at its master, clearly stung that he was complimenting the enemy. Ebrethil sighed rather dramatically.

"Come on now, Blaze," this is supposed to be a friendly and education match for everyone. Blaziken huffed and muttered something in its own language.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry!" Ebrethil sighed again. Iris started, staring at him. Could it be possible that he actually understood Blaziken's speech? Or was it just him understanding his pokemon's body language?

"Are you ok, though, Blaze?" asked Ebrethil seriously. "Are you hurt?"

Blaziken grunted a response, avoiding eye contact with its master. Ebrethil burst out laughing.

"Well in all fairness, that one WAS kind of on you!" he chortled. "My pride would be hurting too!"

Iris stared at him. It wasn't just body language. This guy, whoever he was, could actually speak to his pokemon and understand them!

As Excadrill moved to stand beside Iris, she looked down at it and smiled.

"You did great, Excadrill. Come up with that on your own, did you?" she asked happily.

"Excadrill!" replied Excadrill. Though Iris couldn't understand it's language, the self-satisfied smirk plastered on its face was enough confirmation for her. She laughed, then said,

"You ready for another bout? You still got some spirit left in you?"

"Excadrill!" it replied, turning back to face its opponents, rubbing its claws together.

Iris took that to mean 'yes' and stood back up, then looked over at Cilan.

He hadn't said a word this whole time, and she got the feeling that he was taking his two losses pretty hard.

"Cilan?" she asked hesitantly.

"You ready yet or what?" he asked her sharply. "Lets end this!"

Ok, now Iris had confirmation. Cilan was officially pissed off.

"Begin!" Brock cried out again.

"Excadrill use-" Iris began, but Cilan cut her off.

"Stunfisk, use Mud Bomb on that Blaziken!" he shouted, and this time, no one missed the tenseness in his voice. For the first time that day, Ebrethil responded immediately.

"Salamence, protect Blaziken and blow those Mud Bombs away!"

Quick as lightning, Salamence moved in front of Blaziken and whipped up a strong gust with its wings. The bomb's quickly slowed down, and, instead of stopping, reversed course back toward Stunfisk, the wind pushing them on. Stunfisk, panicking, tried to dodge, but, being a fish on land, its maneuvering capabilities were not at all suitable for situations like these, and with an explosion of mud and dirt, Stunfisk was thrown backwards as the full force of its own attack was turned against it. In addition to being a ground type, Stunfisk was also an electric type, which meant that its own ground type attacks were super effective against it. Excadrill tried to catch it, but was knocked off-balance by the gusts of wind and instead of catching Stunfisk, ran headlong into it, both of them collapsing on the ground, unconscious.

Cilan rounded on Iris.

"What's the big idea?" he shouted angrily?

"What are you talking about?" Iris retorted, starting to get angry herself.

"Excadrill tackled into Stunfisk!"

"It was trying to _catch _Stunfisk, Cilan!" replied Iris angrily, her own voice starting to rise.

"Oh that's right. Make up excuses for yourself! Now I'm out of the MATCH because of YOU!" Cilan spat.

"Because of me?" Iris cried, finally matching his volume at last. "What have I done wrong?"

"If Excadrill hadn't taken off at the first opportunity, Pansage would still have been defended and I'd still have a chance!" roared Cilan.

"You blame ME for that!?" Iris bellowed.

"Well, Excadrill certainly took off in a hurry and I seem to remember SOMEONE giving the orders!" Cilan then began a cruel but accurate impression of Iris yelling 'Excadrill use Drill Run on Blaziken!'

With a snarl of fury, Iris lunged at Cilan.

"ENOUGH!"

The word was shot through the air like a whip-crack, yet it carried with it such power and authority that all those in the vicinity flinched. At the same time, both Iris and Cilan were pulled off their feet and hung, struggling fruitlessly, staring up into the face of Blaziken, who had caught Cilan by the scruff of his shirt and was holding him up off the ground. Iris, who'd been caught around the middle, fought her captor for a moment before she realized who it was.

Ebrethil was walking across the battlefield, and there was no trace of a smile on his face as he looked at Cilan. Nothing was said for a very long time, until in fact, Cilan had calmed down enough to look Ebrethil in the eye.

"I'm disappointed in you, Cilan," Ebrethil said finally. "I expected a little more self-control and maturity from a gym leader, not to mention an A-class Connoisseur."

Cilan looked ready to hit Ebrethil, but suddenly, all the fight seemed to leave him and his entire body drooped. Ebrethil nodded at Blaziken, who lowered Cilan, not unkindly, to the ground. Ebrethil knelt down before him and looked at him carefully, as if trying to read him. Finally, he seemed to find what he was looking for.

"Cilan?" his voice was much gentler now.

"Yes sir"

"This was your first tag battle, wasn't it?"

"No sir"

"Let me rephrase. This was your first tag battle with someone who wasn't your brothers."

No response.

"Cilan?"

"...yes sir."

Ebrethil rose to his feet, looking suddenly weary.

"Cilan, you and I are going to have a talk somewhere in private, ok?"

"Yes sir."

Ebrethil turned and motioned to Prof. Oak to come over. The Prof, who had been standing nervously to one side, came forward.

"Samuel, could you please tell the crowd that, we will take a short break from the match and resume in say...15 minutes?"

"Of course," replied the Prof. "What reason should I give?"

Ebrethil thought for a moment, then replied. "I understand that in most league matches, when three of either trainer's pokemon have been eliminated, a break is called...i think that applies here," he finished with the smallest of smiles.

"Of course," the professor agreed. "Take all the time you need."

"Iris, is that ok with you?" asked Ebrethil, turning toward her.

"Of course, sir," Iris responded quickly. "I understand. I could use a break myself."

"Thank you," said Ebrethil. "Come on, Cilan, I know a place nearby where we can talk."

"Yes sir." was the only reply any of them heard.

oooooooooooo

_Ok. That's it for this chapter. I'd meant to finish the first battle, but the story started writing itself so to speak and I thought i should split it into two chapters. I'll have the conclusion to this match posted by Friday...oh i guess that's tomorrow. (didn't realize it was 3 AM here hehehe)_

_In case any of you picked up on it, I'm not all that fond of Cilan. At this point, his character's more of a plot hindrance to the story than anything else, so yes, i did finish him off quickly. But don't worry. He'll be back. I'm sorry if I upset any Cilan fans, but, when it comes down to it...I'd choose Brock any day of the year! :) Now..._

_COUPLE QUESTIONS FOR EVERYONE:_

_-Do people prefer longer or shorter chapters? I'm can work with either format, but you guys are the one's reading/reviewing, so...long or short, please let me know (with a review :) )_

_ALSO_

_-I'm starting to have the urge to throw some VERY minor profanity into the battles 'oh damn!', 'go kick his ass'. Things of that nature. However, I want to antagonize you guys on the third chapter into my first ever published story. lol. so let me know if you'd prefer i keep it watered down. I'll be perfectly happy to if that's the case. Let me know your views (with a review! :) )  
_

_AND LASTLY  
_

_-I'm still putting together Ash's team for the final showdown. There are a few slots left for me to fill in his roster, so please shoot out some ideas. I thought I covered this plot point in chapter 1, but if not I'll repeat. Ash has all of his pokemon in 1 place, including Unova region. The only pokemon he doesn't have access to are Pidgeot, Primeape, and Lapras. All others are legit choices. I'm open to anything right about now. _

_So let me know on all counts (WITH A REVIEW :D)_

_Until next time..._


	4. When Generations Clash

**Chapter 4: When Generations Clash**

"What was that?" Misty exclaimed quietly.

"Has Cilan ever done that before?" Brock asked Ash, looking shaken.

Ash shook his head. He'd never seen Cilan lose control like that before. He looked over at Iris. She was standing exactly where Blaziken had set her down, and was staring towards the battlefield with a vacantly blank expression, as if she wasn't fully aware of her surroundings. Sure enough, when Ash stepped up to her side and gently touched her arm, she jumped and looked around wildly, having not even heard him approach.

"Oh, hi, Ash," she said.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she sniffed. "I just never thought that Cilan could say things like that."

"I'm sure Cilan didn't mean what he said," Ash replied. "He'll come around, you'll see."

"Thanks, Ash," replied Iris.

Axew came over to both of them from where he'd been sitting, watching the match. Iris had decided early on to not have him battle, as it was too dangerous against such powerful opponents. So Axew had sat and watched the match proceedings, keeping a close eye on Salamence, presumably trying to pick up battling tips.

"Hey Axew," Iris said wearily, kneeling down next to the small dragon type. "Did you see what happened?"

"Axew," Axew replied softly, patting her arm, obviously trying to comfort her.

Iris sighed and looked out at the pockmarked battlefield.

"Maybe we should forfeit," she said quietly.

"Axew?" Axew looked up, startled.

"We can't beat him. We're not nearly strong enough. I'm not strong enough. If I forfeit now, then Dragonite and Emolga won't get hurt for nothing."

"Come on Iris, you can't give up!" said May, coming over to stand next to her. "You've still got to give it your all!"

"Where's that fighting spirit of yours?" Ash asked her bracingly.

"Maybe Iris is right," Brock said quietly. "I don't know if any of us can beat him."

"I mean look at them!" said Iris in a small, defeated voice, gesturing across the field. Blaziken and Salamence were sparing against each other. It didn't look like any of them even felt the fatigue from the first bout of fighting.

"I now only have two pokemon and he has all six. There's almost no point in continuing the match!"

"It's a fine line to walk, it always is, for anyone," said Ebrethil suddenly as he seemingly materialized out of nowhere and put his hand on Iris's shoulder. "To fight or not to fight...determining when to give up...It's always hard for any trainer to decide that."

"Not me!" Ash declared proudly. "We never give up, right Pikachu? NEVER!"

"Then you are a fool."

The proud smile slid from Ash's face, replaced by a look of anger and reproachfulness as he turned to Ebrethil.

"What did you say?" he asked challengingly.

"The true pokemon master knows when to admit defeat. He does not allow pride to cloud his judgment," Ebrethil responded. His voice had not changed in tone, but his eyes had become slightly harder as he looked at Ash, who immediately (and predictably) fired up at once.

"My pokemon and I work as a team. We're always ready to give it are all no matter what. Lot''s of times we've pulled out a win when it's been nearly impossible."

"And you've lost just as many battles because you refused to back down," retorted Ebrethil sternly. "Do not forget that I have watched you all throughout your journey. Do you not remember your first defeat at the Dewford Gym?"

Ash looked as though Ebrethil had slapped him. Of course he remembered it. How could he ever forget it? Brawly had completely and utterly dominated the battle during their first match. And though Ash would rather share a bathtub with Muk than admit it to anyone, he knew that in that case, Ebrethil was right. It had been _his_ fault that they lost. _His_ blind pride in his Treeko that made him refuse to even consider anything but forward attacks.

"If you repeatedly force your pokemon to fight against impossible odds, in time they will stop trusting you," Ebrethil continued.

"None of my pokemon have ever lost trust in me!" Ash protested, trying with all his might not to think about his Charizard's behavior after it first evolved.

"And you have been very lucky in that regard," Ebrethil acknowledged. "So far, all of your pokemon share your determination to win, your unfailing spirit, which is what makes you such a good team. But remember. All pokemon are different. If you continue on your journey, you will inevitably obtain a partnership with a pokemon who does not share your mentality or your level of enthusiasm. If, when that time comes, you do not recognize the situation, or, far worse, if you recognize it yet fail to address it properly, your bond with that pokemon will weaken until it becomes very tenuous indeed. I've seen it happen before...and so have you."

"What are you talking about?" Ash laughed. "I've never seen a pokemon lose faith in it's trainer because of a loss in a battle."

"Perhaps I should rephrase," amended Ebrethil. "You have seen the outcome of such decisions."

"No I haven't!" replied Ash, perplexed. "None of us have!"

Ebrethil raised his eyebrows.

"We haven't!" Ash added, slightly defensive now.

"Um, Ash?"

"What? WHAT?" Ash asked, his voice raising slightly, turning to see who had spoken.

"That was what happened to Excadrill," whispered Iris miserably, her face surprisingly pale given her dark complexion. "The first time we battled Drayden."

Ash stared at her, feeling rather as though a bucket of ice water had just been tipped into his chest. She was right. Ebrethil had described Excadrill's loss of faith perfectly. Ash remembered how Excadrill had literally shut himself away from Iris after she failed to stop a doomed battle with a Haxorus, not coming out again for well over a year.

"You're a good trainer Ash," Ebrethil said quietly. "One of the best. I just don't want you to have to go through more hardships than are already before you. I'm not trying to insult you. I'm trying to help you."

Ash looked up into his face, his own a swirling mixture of confusion and fear.

"But...all my pokemon all want to win as much as I do. And they've trained so hard for each and every match. How can I forfeit and not expect them to resent me for giving up...for giving up on _them_. They'd see it as a slap in the face!"

"Alas," sighed Ebrethil. "You've touched on the crux of the complications of these kinds of decisions. The only way you can accurately judge in the midst of a battle is after many _many_ years of living with your pokemon. Not just battling with them, but living with them...eating with them, playing with them, going through life with them. It took me an average of 10 years before I even started to reach that kind of connection with each of my pokemon, and that was 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for 10 years.

"But that's impossible," interjected Brock suddenly. "Young trainers get their first pokemon when they're ten years old."

"True," Ebrethil said, smiling slightly. "Your point being what...I'm not old enough?"

"Well, obviously," piped up Dawn.

"I think," said Ebrethil, still with that strange smile. "That a more appropriate statement would be that I don't _look_ old enough."

And on that enigmatic note, he turned and addressed Iris.

"Now, are you ready to resume?"  
"Um, yes," said Iris hesitantly. "But what about the whole forfeit judgment thing,"

"Well, the most important thing that determines that decision is your pokemon's desire and will to continue," replied Ebrethil. "This is not an official league match, there is no grand prize at stake, so it really comes down to whether or not your pokemon WANT to go into a battle of this nature."

"I...I..." Iris hesitated. "Dragonite's not been with me for very long so I can't tell...i honestly don't know whether or not I should-OUCH!" she screamed, making everyone except for Ebrethil jump.

Axew, who had been staring at her for the past minute and growing more frustrated with every word he heard, had suddenly leaped forward and bit Iris's leg. Hard. As everyone looked down at him, surprised...

"AXEW! Ew! Ew! Ax! Axew! Ax! Ax! Ew! Ax! Ew! Ax!"

It was almost comical to watch Iris slowly backing away from the irate pokemon, who was positively stamping up and down, tearing strips out if its trainer's hide as it waved at the field. The tantrum went on for almost three minutes, by the end of which, Iris, who had frantically climbed up the tree she had backed into in an effort to escape the tirade, looked momentarily speechless. Axew was panting heavily while, meanwhile, Ebrethil was roaring with laughter.

"I'm assuming that Axew wants me to proceed with the battle?" Iris asked weakly.

"Correct," Ebrethil replied, still chuckling. "In addition, he also said that that goes for everyone. By 'everyone', I assume he's referring to all of your pokemon, as well as your friends'. He was quite confident that he...err...was authorized to make that statement."

"Well, ok then," said Iris at last. "If they're ready and willing to go on, then so are we, right guys?"

"HEAR HEAR!"

"Wonderful!" Ebrethil said. "Let us proceed then! Brock, we once more have need of your services, my friend."

As Brock made his way back to the referee's position, Ash, Misty, May and Dawn suddenly heard a 'psst'. Coming from behind them. Turning, they Cilan a little way behind them.

"Hey, Cilan! Iris is about to finish her match. Come watch with us," Ash said.

"Thanks, Ash, but I'm going to take a walk, I think," Cilan responded quietly. "I just came by to let you know...and to tell you that I'm sorry. I overreacted and it was uncalled for."

"You want to say by to Iris too?" May asked.

Cilan hesitated, then shook his head. "I don't want to face her right now. I'm sure she's still mad, and she definitely doesn't need me distracting her before her match."

Cilan turned and began to walk away, but then stopped, looking back.

"Ash, I've got something to tell you."

"What's that?" Ash asked.

"Kick his ass for me when your turn comes," Cilan responded, with a hint of his old smile.

Ash grinned back.

"Sure thing, Cilan."

ooooooo

"The first battle will now resume!" Brock announced. "Since Iris is the only trainer remaining, she will use her two final pokemon together."

At Brock's words, Iris nodded, took a deep breath, and then took out her two remaining pokeballs.

"Let's go, Dragonite and Emolga!" she shouted.

As Dragonite and Emolga appeared in a flash of light, Dragonite flapped down to the field to glare at Blaziken, who raised it's eyebrows. If Blaziken had been a human, Ash would have said the expression was one of amused condescension. Meanwhile, Emolga found itself staring up into the face of Salamence.

Unfortunately, Salamence's ability, Intimidate, chose this moment to activate. Intimidate is an ability used before combat that normally scares opposing pokemon, thereby slightly lowering their will to fight, and by extension, their attack strength. Emolga found itself looking up into the face of a very large, very aggravated dragon, who could have easily swallowed Emolga whole if it so chose.

Emolga began to visibly sweat drop, fidgeting anxiously until, finally, it panicked. There was a flash of electricity, and Salamence, caught by surprise, grunted loudly in pain. When the electricity dissipated, Emolga was no longer on the battlefield. Using it's makeshift wings, it glided over the battlefield and alighted on a nearby apple tree, where it started gorging itself with single minded determination. Everyone looked back down to the battlefield, and saw Axew standing beside Salamence. Just as confused as everyone else.

It was only as Ebrethil started laughing again that Ash realized what had happened. Volt Switch. Emolga's favorite move that caused it to be switched out for another of Iris's pokemon. Iris looked about ready to spit fire as she stomped over to the tree.

"Get back here and battle this INSTANT!" she screeched.

"Um, actually, it can't," Brock interjected. "Since the match has already begun, you're side can't use more than six pokemon, which means technically, Emolga wasn't allowed to do that at all."

"I think we can let it slide this once, Brock," Ebrethil told him. "But unfortunately, your only option at this point is to fight with Axew."

Iris had obviously not been expecting this, but nevertheless walked back to her side and prepared for the battle.

"We'll still do our best,"

"Begin!" Brock shouted.

"Axew, use Dragon Rage on Blaziken! Dragonite, Ice Beam on Salamence!" Iris called out.

"Salamence, up!" Ebrethil called out. "And Blaze, counter with Flamethrower!"

As the powerful Dragon and Fire attacks collided in an explosion of sound and smoke, Salamence quickly rose out of it, supported by it's two red wings. Seconds later, Dragonite burst out of the smoke cloud to, giving chase.

"Here we go," Ebrethil muttered to himself before calling over to Iris. "Iris, now your real test begins!"

He grinned as Iris seem to gulp, then looked up at Salamence.

"Begin!" he called out.

At once, Salamence dove at Dragonite, its claws shining with a light turquoise energy. A Dragon Claw.

"Dragonite, counter with Thunderpunch!" Iris yelled. Dragonite nodded, clenched it's fist, which began to glow and spark with electricity, and flew up to meet Salamence. The two attacks collided in midair and though Dragonite was obviously struggling, they seemed to be well matched. At once, Salamence drew back, opened its mouth, and shot a Flamethrower at Dragonite, who still recovering from countering the Dragon Claw, barely managed to get away.

They continued to fight, weaving through the air above the battlefield, Salamence firing a seemingly random array of attacks, while Iris frantically calling out evasive maneuvers or retaliatory attacks. No matter what they tried, however, Salamence always seemed to be just slightly too fast for Dragonite to land a hit. It was obvious that this Salamence had been trained very well for aerial combat. Iris's Dragonite, which had a sense of battling honor, never took to the skies unless it was fighting another flying opponent. Iris had been trying for several months now to get it to start flying more regularly in battles, but it refused, apparently not wanting to have an 'unfair' advantage. Now, as Dragonite and Salamence continued their aerial sparring, that lack of experience was showing.

Ash's attention was so riveted to the fight in the air that for several minutes, he completely forgot that this was a _double_ battle. Remembering, he frantically looked down, searching for Axew and Blaziken. When he finally spotted them, he could barely believe his eyes.

Blaziken was staring up at the battle above, his eyes following the two dragons intently. Axew was pushing toward it as hard as he could, but couldn't get within three feet of Blaziken, owing to the fact that Blaziken had propped its foot on Axew's head and was lazily holding it back. Ash stared at this bizarre and comical sight in shock. Blaziken was making no effort to attack Axew whatsoever, almost as if it had lost interest in Axew, and Ash was reminded again of his Charizard, and how it as well refused to battle weaker opponents. Could that be what was happening here? Did Blaziken not think Axew a worthy opponent?

Ash looked over at Ebrethil for some answers and received a shock. Ebrethil, like Blaziken was not even paying any attention to Axew. His eyes were also fixed on the battle, watching Dragonite closely, though now and again his glance strayed to Iris as she called out commands with barely concealed frustration. It was almost as if...

And then Ash realized, finally, what was happening. It was, as he'd said at the beginning, Iris's test. Ebrethil had somehow known that Emolga would want to use Volt Switch, and had chosen Salamence to help that along, knowing that Emolga would become even more nervous under the power of Intimidate.

This is what Ebrethil had been muttering about to himself. He'd _wanted_ this matchup from the beginning. Wanted to test Iris and Dragonite with Salamence in one on one combat. He hadn't counted on a double battle, so he'd eliminated Cilan's pokemon early on, then chose Salamence as Dragonite's battling partner so that if Iris did chose Emolga instead of Axew, It'd switch out. With Axew fighting Blaziken, he didn't need to worry about any interference from the other pokemon. Blaziken, Ash realized with a jolt, wasn't bored at all. It, Salamence and Ebrethil must have worked out this entire thing before the battles began, maybe even before they'd arrived in Pallet.

The fight continued for almost ten minutes, the two titans exchanging or dodging blows. Dragonite was obviously tiring, while Salamence in contrast only seemed to be getting both faster and stronger as time went on. Most likely part of the test. Ash thought ruefully.

Finally, Ebrethil, who'd remained silent throughout the entire exchange, called out;

"Enough, Salamence!"

Salamence instantly backed away from Dragonite, who didn't pursue it this time, but bobbed in mid-air facing it, breathing hard.

"Your bond is strong," Ebrethil told Iris, who looked over at him. "As is your Dragonite. You two have great potential, yet you still have far to go. You have passed my test."

Iris breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now, let us end this."

Iris's breath seemed to catch in her throat as she looked up. Ebrethil was smiling kindly at her, but when he looked up at Salamence, his voice changed. Becoming slightly rougher, more exhilarated.

"Now!"

Without warning, Salamence dove at Dragonite, far faster than it had ever moved before. Luckily, Dragonite was far enough away to dodge, but now, as the fight resumed, everyone could see that the battle had changed, drastically. This was no longer a test involving two combatants. With one word, Ebrethil had given Salamence permission to let loose.

And let loose it did.

The attacks were fired in an endless stream, never letting up or slowing down. Dragonite was now entirely on the defensive, weaving in all directions as it tried to evade its pursuer. Iris was on the ground, yelling encouragement, but unable to anything as Salamence almost literally flew circles around Dragonite.

"IRIS!" Ash bellowed. "LOOK DOWN!"

Iris obeyed and looked momentarily stunned to see Axew and Blaziken still locked together. She too, it seemed, had completely forgotten about them.

"Dragonite, dive to the ground!" she called out.

Dragonite nosedived and sped down towards Blaziken and Axew.

"Use Dragon Rush!" Iris cried.

Blue draconic energy surrounded Dragonite's body as it accelerated. Blaziken looked up just in time to see the danger. With a stupendous effort, it caught the attack, holding Dragonite at bay, but it's concentration distracted it long enough.

"Axew, get out of there and jump onto Dragonite!" Iris shouted. As Axew ran out from under Blaziken's foot Dragonite turned, slipped through Blaziken's claws, and scooped Axew up from the ground, before allowing it to climb onto its back whereupon they both flew back up into the sky.

"Ha!" yelled Iris, triumphantly. "Now you'll have to fight both it their attacks combined. Dragonite can still dodge while Axew attacks from it's back!"

"And that," said Ebrethil simply. "Was your mistake. Salamence lets finish this! Use Stone Edge!"

And with that, Salamence roared. Energy poured out of it's body, forming two circles of razor sharp rocks floating around it's body. Before Iris could say a word, the rocks shot toward Dragonite with incredible speed, knocking both it and Axew out of the air, pelting towards the ground. Not yet satisfied, Salamence dove after, more energy pouring out of it's body into a gigantic purple and yellow swirling mass. Giga Impact. It slammed into Dragonite with tremendous force, propelling it into the ground with an almighty crash. Axew, who had been caught by the backlash, was flipped back into the air again, screaming in pain and terror. Ash leaped to his feet. If he didn't do something, Axew was going to fall headfirst into the lake, and Axew hadn't learned how to swim.

Before he could even reach for Unfezant's pokeball, however, there was a rush of wings overhead, and Ebrethil's Pidgeot scooped up Axew in midair before gliding smoothly back to the ground toward a panic-stricken Iris. After landing and allowing Iris to tearfully reclaim Axew, Pidgeot nodded to Ebrethil, who nodded in return, then took off back to the tree where it had been observing the proceedings after returning from the hunt.

"Salamence," sighed Ebrethil. "Was that really necessary? Axew could've gotten hurt by the backlash from that."

Salamence growled in response.

"I know you were frustrated, but always keep your emotions in check during a battle," Ebrethil admonished gently. "If you need to relieve some energy, I understand that there's a forest less than a mile swarming with Beedrill. Why don't you go over there and blow off some steam for a while?"

Salamence nodded, and took off again, heading for Viridian Forest, leaving Dragonite in a motionless heap on the ground. Iris returned Dragonite to its pokeball and looked at Ebrethil wordlessly. He seemed to understand.

"That strategy had one major flaw," he said gently. "When a flying pokemon is carrying another, whether it be pokemon or human, their maneuverability is greatly reduced, otherwise they run the risk of throwing their riders off of their back. They have to be more careful when they're carrying loads. They can't use evasive maneuvers nearly as easily."

"I understand," Iris said, dejectedly.

"Hey," Ebrethil said kindly. "Relax. You passed the test. You and your pokemon worked very well together."

"Really?" asked Iris, looking up.

"Oh yes, we were both impressed. Well," Ebrethil corrected, smiling slightly, "I was impressed while Blaze here was a little humiliated."

Blaziken staunchly refused to meet anyone's eyes as they peered at it. Ebrethil laughed again.

"Well then, why don't we take a lunch break, and then Dawn can battle."

"Emolga's apparently already had lunch," said Iris venomously, glaring over to where Emolga was still chowing down on an apple

"Emomgam" it managed through a mouthful of fruit.

"You know," Ebrethil said thoughtfully. "Have you ever tried motivation with Emolga?"

"Motivation?" asked Iris.

"Does anyone have an apple?" asked Ebrethil to the group at large.

"I do," replied Brock, taking it out and tossing it to Ebrethil, who caught it one-handed and then gave it to Iris.

"Call her, Emolga," he told her.

"Alright, EMOLGA!" Iris shouted, holding up the apple.

"EMO!" cried Emolga, as it immediately soared down toward Iris, grabbed the fruit, and began eating that as well.

"Emolga," Ebrethil said, kneeling down to look at it in the eye. "Your friends always have lots of apples and other great things to eat. How about an extra apple after every battle you do for Iris?"

With a huge effort, Emolga swallowed and looked at Ebrethil shrewdly.

"Molga Emolga Emo,"

"Alright, but if you don't battle, then you won't get the rest, Iris'll have to give it to Axew!" Ebrethil replied, just as shrewdly.

"EMO!" Emolga looked shocked. "Emo Emolga ga emo!"

"Well, then you'd better do your part, shouldn't you?"

"Emolga!"

Smiling satisfactorily, Ebrethil rose and turned to Iris.

"I've negotiated a treaty with Emolga for you. She agrees to battle in return for half an apple before, the other half coming after she fights." he told her.

"That's great! Thank you so much!" Iris gushed. "Wow Emolga, you're ready to battle for me now?"

"Molga. Emolga!"

"Apparently not," Ebrethil said, smiling. "She's ready to battle...for _food_."

Everyone laughed, and Iris sighed dramatically.

"But now I say we all take a leaf out of Emolga's book and have some food." Ebrethil said to Ash and the rest. "After that, Dawn, it's your turn!"

Dawn gulped.

oooooooooooo

_sorry this one took a little longer than i thought. And just to clear up any confusion, 'Blaze' is the nickname of Ebrethil's Blaziken.  
_

_few things to say. First of all thanks to everyone for the input on Ash's final lineup. I'm getting an idea of what to do but i'd love more opinions, so keep the reviews coming :)_

_Also thank you to __**MyNoseAgreesWithMe.**__ for catching my 'pika-speak' mistake in chapter 1. I mixed up 'Misty' (pikachupi) with Togepi (pipipi). That has now been addressed and corrected._

_I've decided to make the chapters more on the long side, based on the reviews I've gotten back, so expect one chapter per battle (except for Ash's battle which I'm expecting to take up 2-3 chapters.)_

_There was also a question about shippings (pairings) in this story. In answer to that, No, there will not be a shipping element to this story, though it will be mentioned in the last chapter. My novel (for which this is a prequel) will have OC shipping in it, which will be revealed in a later chapter._

_Next chapter will be up in 3-4 days, so keep checking in!_

_and, as always...REVIEW! :D_

_until next time..._


	5. Chapter 5

Hey all, I just wanted to drop a quick note to everyone to apologize for taking so long with this next update. i know i said i'd have it out over a week ago and i'm sorry i wasn't able to do that. the days have been hectic over here, and this part of the story is taking a lot longer to write than i thought.

Rest assured I AM NOT GIVING UP THIS STORY. so don't give up on me. :)

Next chapter up soon. Title: Dawn's Dilemma


	6. Dawn's Dilemma

**A/N: Finally have chapter five for you guys. I'm really sorry that it took so long, I was plagued with a bit of writers block for a while. Thank you to my new Beta, ****Trainer Theta**** for providing his assistance.**

Chapter 5: Dawn's Dilemma

By 1:00, lunch had concluded and everyone was back their places, with Ebrethil facing Dawn and Brock refereeing. Professor Oak had joined Ash and the rest on the sidelines to watch the rest of the matches. Cilan had not yet returned.

"The battle between Pokemon Coordinator Dawn and Ebrethil will now begin!" Brock called out. "Each trainer will use 6 pokemon and the battle will be over when all of either trainer's pokemon are unable to battle. In addition, both sides will be allowed to make substitutions. Begin!"

"Aright, Buneary, spotlight!" Dawn shouted as she called forth the rabbit pokemon. As it appeared, Ebrethil cocked his head before smiling at Dawn.

"I thought Buneary had retired from battling," he called out. "I thought she was doing modeling now."

"Yes, it is," Dawn said. "But, as this is a 6v6 battle, I have to use all of my pokemon, right?"

"I suppose," Ebrethil replied. "Still it's an unusual starting choice."

"I know," Dawn said, smiling. "But I'm trying to think outside the box here."

"Good for you," Ebrethil complimented her. "In that case...Snorlax, let's go!"

As Snorlax appeared, the ground shook with the weight of the huge pokemon, which towered over Buneary with half closed eyes.

"I wonder what he's got planned," Oak mused aloud. "Buneary is quite fast, and will be able to dodge attacks much easier than Snorlax.

"Yeah, but Snorlax have awesome defense," Max piped up. "And I bet that one is really strong too."

"Begin!" Brock called out.

"Buneary, Ice Beam!" Dawn shouted.

_"__Bun!"_ replied Buneary. It opened it's mouth wide and, with a cry, hurled 3 interlocking streaks of shining ice energy at Snorlax. The attack hit Snorlax dead on, but Snorlax didn't even seem to feel it.

"Of course!" Ash cried out. "Snorlax's ability is Thick Fat, which reduces the damage taken from both Fire and Ice type attacks!"

"Add that to Snorlax's natural defenses, and you've got yourself an almost impenetrable wall," Max exclaimed, looking worried.

"Buneary, it's too strong to attack directly, so we need to confuse it!" Dawn cried out. "Time for some contest battling. Use Ice Field!"

'Ice Field' as Ash, Brock, and anyone who watched Dawn's later contests knew, was a special strategy that Dawn and Buneary had developed together for contest battles and appeals. Buneary used Bounce to jump high into the air, then in midair, used Ice Beam to cover much of the ground in a layer of ice, turning the battlefield into an ice skating rink. By jumping and skating on the rink, Buneary's speed was greatly increased.

"Not bad, a classic contest move," Ebrethil complimented. "Snorlax, use earthquake!"

"_BOOM!_"

As over a thousand pounds of Snorlax slammed into the ground, the earth shook with the force of the impact and Buneary stumbled on the ice, slipping and sliding out of control across the field...right into Snorlax's immense belly.

"Send it back, would you, Snorlax?" Ebrethil requested, smiling.

Snorlax sucked in its breath, then, with a grunt, thrust its immense belly out with surprising speed, sending Buneary flying headfirst across the battlefield towards the trees.

"Buneary, use Bounce quick!" Dawn called, thinking fast.

At once, Buneary spun around and used the tree as a kick-off point as it hurtled back towards Snorlax like a bullet.

"Snorlax, close the lid!" Ebrethil cried.

"Close the lid?" Ash repeated, confused. "What does that mean?"

Before anyone could answer, they all got a demonstration. Just as Buneary was about to ram into Snorlax, Snorlax collapsed, face down on the ground. While this would not be considered unusual behavior for a Snorlax, it was instantly apparent that this was no whimsical napping position. On the contrary, Snorlax had timed itself enough to fall right as Buneary was entering into it's shadow. With a frightened squeak, Buneary was crushed under Snorlax's immense weight.

"Buneary!" Dawn cried out. Snorlax got up off the ground to reveal a crushed Buneary beneath it, still stirring feebly.

"Buneary is unable to battle, Snorlax wins!" Brock called out.

"I must congratulate you're quick thinking, Dawn," Ebrethil told her as she recalled Buneary. "Using the inertia of our attacks against us is a top-grade strategy."

"Thanks, I guess," replied Dawn, confused but pleased with the praise. "Alright, Togekiss, it's your turn!"

"Interesting second choice," Ebrethil mused as the fairy pokemon appeared before him in a flash of white light, stretching its wings gracefully. "I assume you chose it because of its capability to use Aura Sphere?"

"Umm, yes," replied Dawn, more confused than ever. "How did you-?"

"I told you," Ebrethil interrupted, smiling. "I've been watching all of you for a very long time."

"Well you're right," Dawn replied. "I figured that since Aura Sphere is not only a fighting-type move, but a move that can't be evaded, that would guarantee a strong hit."

"And you're quite right," Ebrethil agreed. "So please, proceed."

"Oh," said Dawn, taken aback. "Um, ok. Togekiss, use Aura Sphere!"

_"__Toge!"_ cried Togekiss as a blue ball of energy formed between its outstretched wings before flying towards Snorlax.

"Protect!" Ebrethil murmured.

Instantly a blue-green bubble of energy formed around Snorlax. The Aura Sphere collided with it and bounced off into the sky, vanishing from sight.

"Snorlax, take a break," Ebrethil called out suddenly. As Snorlax disappeared in a flash of light, Dawn froze, looking astonished.

"Why did Ebrethil call Snorlax back?" Misty wondered.

"Probably because he knew that almost none of Snorlax's attacks would be likely to land a hit on a fast flying type like Togekiss," Oak responded. "He always battles on his terms."

Ebrethil looked at Togekiss, evidently thinking, then brought another pokeball out from the folds of his cloak.

"Time for your debut, my friend," he said as he threw the ball into the air.

As the pokemon appeared in a flash of light, there were collective gasps from the audience and cameras started flashing like mad. The newcomer didn't acknowledge the commotion that it had created, but instead raised its two sickle-like arms and stared across at Togekiss and Dawn, as the latter stared at the brown scaly pokemon in shock.

A Kabutops. A supposedly extinct prehistoric pokemon.

"Oh my," murmured Prof. Oak. "He's kept _that_ one hidden for a while."

"How did he catch one?" May asked.

"Screw that, how did he even FIND one," Misty hissed, looking shocked.

"Well, Dawn, Are you ready to continue?" Ebrethil asked.

"Togekiss, use sky attack!" Dawn cried out in response. As Togekiss dove at Kabutops, it's body surrounded in a powerful white aura, Kabutops leapt to the right, taking care to slash across Togekiss's back with its sickles as it passed. Togekiss cried out in pain and immediately veered off course, getting back up into the air and away from Kabutops.

"Dawn!" Ash called out. "Kabutops is a Rock/Water type so you need to be careful."

"Right," Dawn called back. "In that case, Togekiss, use Aura Sphere!"

As Togekiss fired another ball of blue energy at Kabutops, Ebrethil suddenly called out.

"Don't try it, Kabutops! You're not ready!"

Apparently ignoring this, Kabutops leaped straight at the oncoming attack, raising its sickles as if trying to slice the oncoming ball in two. Unfortunately for Kabutops, Ebrethil appeared to be right. As soon as the attack connected, Kabutops was blasted back towards the ground, screeching in pain.

As Ash and the others cheered for Dawn and Togekiss, Kabutops extracted itself from the ground snarling and looking back up at Togekiss, which was flying gracefully above them.

"Great Aura Sphere, Togekiss!" Dawn shouted. "You've really mastered that well!"

"Wrong!"

Dawn looked over at Ebrethil, startled, and was even more startled by the look on his face. Where moments ago it had been one if quiet amusement and enjoyment, there was now only a mask.

"Togekiss's Aura Sphere has strength, but it's no more than an attack for her."

"What do you mean?" Max asked, confused. "Aura Sphere did exactly what it was supposed to."

"It did what you've been TAUGHT it's supposed to," Ebrethil shot back at him. Max recoiled, looking stung at the sudden venom in Ebrethil's voice.

"But," Ebrethil continued, slightly calmer. "Because it's what you've been taught I can understand your confusion. Just know that what you've been taught is not always accurate. Do not follow your teachings blindly."

"I assume you think you know better than us?" Ash yelled at him, challengingly.

"I would hazard a guess that I am slightly more knowledgeable on the subject, yes," replied Ebrethil smoothly. "I am not so arrogant as to say I know EVERYTHING, which, of course, is impossible."

"If you know so much, than prove it!" Ash retorted.

"Ash, don't," muttered Prof. Oak, looking scared. Ebrethil, however looked as calm as ever.

"All in due time, Ash," he replied. "When we battle, I can assure you that you will see my knowledge, but I promised to battle your friends first."

"Yeah, well than get it over with!" Ash snarled. "I want my turn!"

Misty, Brock, and May looked at him scandalized, while Prof. Oak groaned, putting his face in his hands. Ebrethil was silent for a long moment.

"Do you really want me to do that?" he asked quietly.

"I want to face you myself," Ash repeated.

"Ash, what are you doing?" Oak hissed, more insistently now.

"He's toying with all of us!" Ash cried out. "He's playing with us, testing us, and I'm sick of it! I want to show him a REAL battle!"

"Very well," Ebrethil said softly. "Remember that this was your own wish, and you have no one to blame but yourself."

Ash let out what closely resembled a feral snarl as Ebrethil turned his back on him, addressing Dawn once more.

"Shall we continue?"

"Sure," said Dawn, uncertainly.

"Before we recommence, I must tell you that I AM sorry," Ebrethil said sincerely. "It was never my intention for this to happen."

With a sigh, he turned back to Kabutops.

"Landfall maneuver."

Instantly, Kabutops sprang into action. Pressing it's sickles together it grated them back and forth creating an ear-splitting screeching racket. _Metal Sound_. The force of it, sent Togekiss reeling to the ground, clutching its sensitive ears with its wings, clearly in great pain. As soon as it touched the ground, Kabutops leaped forward, water spewing from its body as it flew straight at Togekiss with a powerful Aqua Jet. Even as it raced toward it, It's sickles glowed with the sinister purple energy of a Night Slash attack, which merged with the Aqua Jet and turned the water into a dark purple mass heading straight for Togekiss, which didn't have time to do anything but cry out in alarm as the powerful combination attack struck home. Togekiss was sent sprawling across the field to stir feebly beside Dawn.

"Togekiss is unable to battle, Kabutops wins!" Brock declared.

"What happened?" Dawn asked numbly.

"What Ash wanted to happen, apparently," replied Ebrethil sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked.

"You told me to get these battles over with, so that's what I'm going to do, if that's what you want."

Ash was too outraged to answer. Ebrethil had deliberately ended the match quickly just to satisfy him. He actually believed Ash WANTED this?

"Well, Kabutops is a Water type," Dawn muttered. "So...Pachirisu, let's do this!"

"_Kabutops still has an advantage because it's a rock type,"_ she thought. "_But if I can land enough attacks, I might be able-"_

"Kabutops, return!"

In two words, Ebrethil had shattered her plan as he drew a third pokeball from his cloak. This time, he made no comment as to Dawn's choice, in fact, he said nothing whatsoever as he threw the ball into the air. As the huge yellow pokemon appeared on the battlefield, Max groaned loudly.

An Electivire. A very high-level electric type.

"Why is he battling my electric type with another one?" pondered Dawn. "Oh well, Pachirisu, use Discharge!"

"Wait!" Ash cried out. "Not that move!"

Too late. The bolts of lightning struck Electivire full on, but Electivire didn't try to resist, in fact, it didn't show any signs of pain at all.

"What! What's going on?" Dawn cried out, looking at Ebrethil, whose face was now expressionless and silent.

"It's Electivire's ability," Prof. Oak called out. "Motor Drive. All electric attacks are absorbed and do no damage to Elective at all. In addition, every time Electivire's hit with an electric attack-"

He was cut off as Electivire suddenly lunged at Pachirisu so fast, he became a yellow/black blur. Pachirisu barely managed to dive frantically out of the way to avoid the much larger opponent, who spun in mid-air and landed lightly on its feet, staring at Pachirisu.

"-its speed increases," finished Prof. Oak numbly.

"Ok, Electric type attacks won't work," Dawn said, her voice slightly higher than normal. "Pachirisu, try a Hyper Fang!"

_"__Chu Pa!"_ cried Pachirisu as it lunged at Electivire, its two front teeth enlarged and glowing with energy.

"Catch it." Ebrethil barked.

Quick as lightning, Two black tails shot out from behind Electivire to wrap tightly around Pachirisu, immobilizing it instantly.

"Now use Brick Break."

As one of Electivire's hands started to glow, Ash turned away. He didn't want to watch. He knew that at that close range, and as helpless as Pachirisu was, there was no way that Pachirisu could survive a hit like that. It was the same strategy that Paul had used with his own Electivire in their Lily of the Valley Conference match.

"Pachirisu, return! You did your best," cried Dawn. "Let's go, Mamoswine!"

"Alright!" Ash shouted. "Electric types won't do a thing to ground types!"

"Right," Dawn agreed. "Mamoswine, use-"

"Electivire, return!"

Dawn stuttered to a halt as Electivire was recalled and, with an almighty crash, Snorlax made a second appearance.

"Snorlax, use Hyper Beam," Ebrethil called out.

"He's trying to finish this in one move!" May cried out, horrified.

"Hey, that's not fair!" Ash said indignantly. "He's not even giving her a chance to fight back. How's he supposed to test all of us if this turns into a one-way slaughter?!"

"Mamoswine, quick, use Dig and dodge it!" Dawn cried out frantically.

With a great crash, Mamoswine dug furiously into the ground, narrowly avoiding the Hyper Beam, which smashed into the ground mere seconds after Mamoswine had vanished.

"Mamoswine, you're safe underground, stay there until I think of a strategy," called out Dawn, calming down a little. Mamoswine was out of danger for now, so she could once more focus on combating this new change of events in the battle.

"Big mistake," Ebrethil told her sadly. "Snorlax, use Earthquake!"

For the second time that day, the ground shook as Snorlax's body slammed into the ground, causing the trees to quake where they stood. But it was much worse for Mamoswine. As the shock-waves reverberated through the ground, Mamoswine was buffeted back and forth as its tunnels collapsed behind it, trapping it, while more earth and stone rained down on its back. Frantically, it dug for the surface, trying to get some air back into its partially crushed lungs.

As soon as it surfaced, It was engulfed in a thick orange beam of light as Snorlax's hyper beam found its mark this time. There was an explosion of noise, a squeal of pain from Mamoswine, an almighty crash as it smashed into a nearby boulder, and then silence.

"Mamoswine, good job!" Dawn called. "You did your best."

Then she looked up and glared at Ebrethil.

"I thought you said that you wanted to _test_ us. This isn't how you battled Iris and Cilan at all!"

"It was my intention to test each of you in turn yes, and admittedly this is not how I originally planned to battle you, Dawn," Ebrethil replied with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Then why are you doing this?" Misty shouted.

"Because Ash requested that I finish these battles more quickly," Ebrethil replied.

"WHAT?" Ash roared.

"It's what you asked of me," Ebrethil replied simply. "I thought it was what you wanted."

"You're doing this...because of me?" Ash choked out, stunned.

"Ebrethil, won't you even give me a chance to show you my battle strategies?" Dawn asked, almost pleading.

"Not if Ash does not wish me to," Ebrethil responded.

"But...if I can't show you my battle skill, how can you see whether or not I pass my test?" Dawn asked.

"I can't, unfortunately," Ebrethil said simply. "I'm afraid that I will not be able to evaluate you this way. As a result, at the rate these battles are progressing, I will have no choice but to fail you by default."

"Wait!" shouted Misty angrily. "That's not fair!"

"I'm sorry, but I will respect Ash's wishes in this," Ebrethil told her with a hint of finality in his voice.

"Well, then I guess I'll just have to win to prove you wrong," Dawn muttered angrily. "Snorlax's ability is Thick Fat, if I remember correctly, so Quilava's Fire-based moves won't have much effect, so...Piplup, Spotlight!"

"Snorlax, admirable work, you've done your job!" Ebrethil called out, recalling it. "Electivire, your second round begins!"

As Piplup and Electivire appeared on the battle field, it triggered the start of one of the most brutal battles Ash had ever seen, Piplup was careful to keep its distance, but Electivire kept up its electric attacks, each one of them hitting Piplup dead on. Electivire's Motor Drive was also still in effect, so it was almost impossible for Piplup to hit it at range. And yet, even as Electivire fired attack after attack, and even as every one of them hit Piplup, it never seemed to admit defeat. At first Ash thought it was Piplup's endurance, and was briefly bolstered with hope at the little pokemon's determination. As he continued to watch, however, he realized that Electivire didn't even seem to be trying to defeat Piplup, but merely to drive it to the brink of exhaustion.

As the battle before them unfolded, Misty suddenly rounded on Ash.

"You have to stop this!" she snarled

"What are you talking about?" he asked her.

"Ebrethil is purposefully finishing these matches quickly because of your outburst. He thinks that you want this to happen!"

"Actually, no," Oak spoke up suddenly, turning to Ash. "He knows exactly what he's doing."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever considered that this is as much a test for you as it is for Dawn? Ebrethil knows that you lost your temper and spoke out of anger, and he decided to 'obey' your command anyway. I think that Ebrethil is testing your character right now. He's trying to show you what happens when you allow your frustration and impatience rule your decisions. Because of that, I think you're the only one that can stop him from doing this with everyone else."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Ash demanded.

"Apologize to him."

Ash stared at him before leaping to his feet.

"NO WAY!" he shouted. "I'm not going to -"

"PIIIIPP!"

In spite of himself, Ash turned back to the battlefield to see Piplup, bound in Electivire's tails and struggling in pain as Electivire sent a steady stream of voltage into its body. Dawn was calling frantically for a Bubblebeam attack, but Piplup was too distracted by the pain to be able to respond. Ebrethil meanwhile was looking, not at the battlefield, but straight into Ash's eyes. His gaze was not cold, but intense nonetheless, searching Ash's face for a reaction, and Ash knew that Oak was right.

"You need to shelve your pride, Ash," Oak murmured. "I know it's not easy for you, but think of Dawn and Piplup. They deserve a chance. Don't make them suffer for your outburst."

Ash looked out at the field just as he saw Electivire charge up a Thunderpunch. He could practically feel Piplup's pain from here as it struggled to get to its feet once more. All rational thought leaving him, he sprinted onto the battlefield towards Piplup, shoving it out of the way. Unfortunately, this put him directly in the trajectory of the oncoming Thunderpunch.

_CRACK!_

As Ash was thrown backwards, his body reeling and convulsing with electricity, everyone leaped to their feet, horror-struck. Pikachu cried out in shock, the girls screamed, Max yelled, Oak fainted, and Brock swore loudly as he raced off the battlefield and over to where Ash lay sprawled in the grass. Ebrethil meanwhile, looked stunned, clearly not expecting such a reaction. Then, as he watched Brock lean over Ash, anxiously checking for wounds, he smiled slightly and walked over to join him.

"That was a surprise!" he said, smiling gently. "Although, given Ash's tendency to _leap_ into pokemon battles as it were, I suppose it shouldn't have been unexpected. How is he?"

"Well, the good news is that there are no burns and he didn't break any bones," said Brock, checking Ash's arms and legs.

"That's good isn't it?" asked Max, who'd come over to watch too and was doing his best to lend his help.

"Yes it is, and surprising, given how far he was thrown."

As Max bent down to feel Ash's other hand, a slight frown creased his face.

"Hey Brock," he said. "Can you help me with something? I don't think I'm doing this right."

"What is it, Max?" Brock asked him distractedly.

"I was trying to find his pulse, but I must be trying the wrong spot again."

Brock started as though he'd received an electric shock as well. Shoving Max out of the way, he knelt down beside Ash and checked his wrist.

"N-nothing!" he gasped.

Ebrethil's face turned an alarming shade of white. Kneeling down at Ash's head, he checked his neck this time, trying desperately to find the reassuring pulse of Ash's beating heart. It wasn't there.

"What's wrong?"asked Dawn, walking over.

Before Brock or Ebrethil could deflect Dawn from the truth, Max cried out.

"Ash's dead! Electivire's electricity stopped his heart!"

Screams rent the air. The crowd went into chaos, running in every conceivable direction as the rest of Ash's friends converged on the spot where Brock and Ebrethil were still kneeling next to Ash.

"Thanks, Max. Really needed the panic on top of everything else," snapped Ebrethil. "Makes for a nice calm ambiance to the situation, you know?"

"Shut up!" Misty snarled. "What do we do?"

"His heart stopped beating because it was given a jolt of electricity," Brock panted, now applying CPR. "We just need to get it beating again."

"Well, if one electric shock can stop it, maybe another can start it again, like a defibrillator," Dawn suggested.

"CHHUUUU!" Pikachu cried out at once, sending more electricity coursing into Ash's body, which jerked wildly, then lay still once more.

"That won't work," muttered Ebrethil distractedly. "Defibrillators operate on a VERY specific voltage level. I doubt Pikachu can control the intensity of its shocks that accurately."

"Don't you underestimate Pikachu!" May shouted at him, firing up in defense of the yellow pokemon in spite of the situation.

"_No_ electric pokemon could unless they've been given very special medical training," Ebrethil replied curtly. "Not even mine."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Brock asked frantically. "There's no hospitals around here, and unless anyone has a portable defibrillator in their bag, I don't know what else to-"

"Stand aside," murmured Ebrethil suddenly, looking at him. "Now."

Something in his voice made Brock obey without hesitation. Quickly, Ebrethil bent over Ash and, with a grunt, tore open his jacket and shirt, exposing the part of his chest right above his heart.

"Stand back, all of you," he told the rest of them curtly. None of them moved.

"What are you going to do?" May asked.

"What I have to," Ebrethil responded grimly.

"We're not doing anything until you tell us what you're planning," Misty said.

Ebrethil rounded on her, his eyes blazing with intensity.

"We don't have time to discuss this in committee," he snapped. "These next few seconds are crucial. Do you have any idea what happens to a brain when it stops receiving oxygen from the heart? If you care about your friend, you'll let me save him."

"We're not leaving him now," Dawn protested.

"I wasn't asking you to leave, I was asking you to back away," Ebrethil replied more gently. "I need some space to do this, and I can't work very well with the mob hanging over me." He gestured towards the mass of people pressing in on all of them from all sides.

Getting the idea, Brock rose to his feet and began shepherding the worried onlookers back. After a pause, the others followed suite. Pikachu however, did not move. It was kneeling at Ash's head, staring at him intently.

"Pikachu, I need you to move too," Ebrethil told it.

"Chu," Pikachu responded curtly.

"I need space for this to work," Ebrethil said more urgently.

"Chu,"

"You could get hurt if you're this close."

"Chu."

"Very well," Ebrethil sighed, looking resigned. "I guess I should have expected it. Well, if you are going to insist on staying, would you be willing to help me out here?"

"Pika?"

"You're very strong, Pikachu," Ebrethil said quietly. "And Ash needs that strength right now."

"Pikapi pikachu!"

"Are you sure?" Ebrethil asked, sounding somewhat concerned. "It will not be easy for you."

"PIKA!"

"Very well," Ebrethil said, beckoning the little pokemon closer. "Then this is what we need to do."

OOOOO

Pikachu and Ash were laying side by side on the grass as Ebrethil knelt in between them. Everyone was watching anxiously. Ebrethil had not told anyone his plan and Pikachu was as tight-lipped as a threatened Clamperl, even to Ash's other pokemon who had gathered around Ash as well, each one, like Pikachu, refusing to leave Ash's side. Even the Tauros herd were all present off to one side, standing uncharacteristically still as they watched their trainer anxiously.

Dawn started to tremble, tears threatening to trickle down her face.

"Don't worry," Brock murmured, putting his hand on her shoulder. "It hasn't been that long yet. There's still time for him to come back to us."

He squeezed her shoulder once more, then turned to watch as Ebrethil closed his eyes and became perfectly still, one hand resting on Ash's chest, the fingertips of the other placed lightly on Pikachu's face and head.

Several seconds passed, though each one felt like a minute to the terrified group as they looked on.

Suddenly, the hand touching Ash's chest twitched, almost as if it was flexing itself. Ebrethil, his eyes still closed, smiled grimly and moved the hand up to Ash's face to mirror his other hand. A second later, the hand touching Pikachu began to shimmer, then glow with a dim yet intense light as what appeared to be a spark detached itself from Pikachu's body and began moving up Ebrethil's fingers and arm. Ebrethil's body appeared translucent, the spark of light shining though the skin and sinew as it passed through Ebrethil's chest and into his other arm, heading down toward Ash.

"What is that?" Max gasped.

"It looks like the color of Togekiss's aura sphere!" Dawn exclaimed, watching Ebrethil with wide eyes.

"That's exactly what it is," Brock murmured.

"You're saying that's an Aura Sphere?" Misty asked incredulously.

"I thought Aura Sphere was an attack move of Togekiss and Lucario?" Iris asked.

"Technically yes, but the attack itself gets its energy from Aura, the life-force of nature," Brock told them, watching Ebrethil intently. "Lucario are said to be able to sense the Aura of other Pokemon and they are the most famous users of that move."

"But it's still a pokemon move, right?"

"There were some humans who were rumored to be able to sense Aura as well," Brock continued, reminding himself that such people were not that common in Unova.

"I've never heard of them!"

"There've only been a few dozen since Aura was first discovered, and they were located primarily in Sinnoh," said Dawn her eyes also following Ebrethil. "They never came out in public very much, preferring seclusion and solitude. Because of that, they've always been shrouded in mystery. We even gave them a name..."

"Aura Guardians," Brock finished for her,

OOOOOOO

As soon as the spark of light reached Ash's body, there was a strong pulse of light, nearly blinding all of them. Pikachu groaned loudly, grimacing heavily, but not rolling away from Ebrethil's touch. Ash's body contracted, his back arching slightly of its own accord, then he was still. After a few more seconds, Ebrethil smiled softly and removed his hand from Ash and Pikachu, leaning back against the tree.

"He'll be fine," he told them quietly. "He's breathing again. He should reawaken in a few minutes."

There was a perceptible rush of air as the crowd released their pent-up breath as one.

"Thank goodness," Misty murmured.

"No, thank YOU," Dawn whispered, looking at Ebrethil. "You saved him."

"Correction," Ebrethil replied kindly, raising a finger. "_Pikachu_ saved him. I was merely a conduit."

"What do you mean?" Max asked. Ebrethil took a deep sigh before replying.

"I assume that you have all guessed the truth of what you saw?"

"It was Aura, wasn't it?" asked Brock.

"Indeed it was," Ebrethil replied nodding wearily. "Aura is the life force which runs throughout our entire world. Because it is in all of us as our life-force, it was a matter of supplying Ash with a little...jump start, to use a mechanical term."

"But why did you need Pikachu?" Dawn asked. "We met an Aura Guardian in Sinnoh named Riley. He was able to create Aura barriers and stuff from thin air."

"Yes, that is how we create our physical constructs, such as barriers and balls of energy," Ebrethil agreed. "But in these kinds of situations, it's rather different." He paused, as if pondering how best to elaborate, then continued.

"I needed to borrow some of Pikachu's Aura to give to Ash. To go back to the mechanical analogy, I needed a working car to supply the needed spark. Pikachu will be fine when he wakes up, but he'll still feel a little weak."

"That makes two of us, then," groaned a weak voice as Ash opened his eyes.

"Ash!"

"You're awake!"

Ash ignored the strangled cries of joy from his friends, his eyes fixed on Ebrethil, who simply looked back at him.

"I'm sorry. I had no right to do what I did."

"You're right," Ebrethil replied, unblinkingly. "You didn't. But I understand why you did it. There was a time when I would have done the same."

"I'm sorry," Ash repeated.

"It is not me that you should apologize to," Ebrethil said simply.

Knowing what he was implying, Ash slowly turned his head towards Dawn,

"I'm sorry I did that, Dawn. It wasn't fair to you," he said. "Could you apologize to Pachirisu, Togekiss, Mamoswine and Piplup for me?"

"Sure Ash," Dawn replied, smiling tearfully. "It's ok."

"You were just being a little kid," Iris said, though her words were softened somewhat by her smile of relief. "It was nothing out of the ordinary."

Ebrethil chuckled as Ash shot Iris a look, then sighed heavily.

"Well, thanks, anyway," Ash said, looking back at Ebrethil.

"I had no idea that Aura was so much more than an attack," said Iris, still looking shocked.

"I guess this explains why you snapped at Max earlier," May said.

"Again, I am sorry for that," Ebrethil said as he inclined his head and looked at Max. "But I guess Aura has always been a rather personal topic for me. I can get rather...passionate about it."

"I'm sorry too," Max mumbled.

"No, you have nothing to apologize for," Ebrethil assured him, clapping him on the shoulder. "Just remember that there is ALWAYS more to learn. One's education is never complete."

"So..." Ash said slowly.

"So?" Ebrethil asked.

"Where does this leave me?" Ash asked hesitantly as he rose to his feet.

"What are you talking about?" Ebrethil asked looking confused.

"Prof. Oak told me that all this was a test for me as well as Dawn...did I pass?"

Ebrethil sighed very deeply before getting to his feet as well.

"No."

As Ash's friends and pokemon all burst into protest, Ash hung his head. There was a part of him that was raring to protest along with Misty, Pikachu, and the others. But another part of him, the part that had just come back from the brink of death, knew that he had probably earned it.

"However, you did not fail either,"

Ash looked up at Ebrethil again, who was wearing his signature smile once more.

"You fell prey to your impatient nature, as you are prone to do on occasion. The test was to see if you could overcome that impulse once you saw the effects. Unfortunately, the good professor-" here Ebrethil glanced at Oak, who was still unconscious on the ground. "Saw fit to circumvent the test by telling you that it _was_ a test, which of course defeated the purpose."

"Why?" Brock asked, interrupting.

"Because I was hoping that Ash would come to the realization on his own, without outside help," Ebrethil responded. "Once he realized that it was a test to be passed, he started to view the situation differently."

"I didn't even know how to pass it at first," Ash mumbled. "Prof. Oak is the one who told me to apologize."

"And would you have come to that conclusion on your own?" Ebrethil prompted him

Ash said nothing. He knew the answer as well as Ebrethil obviously did.

"Exactly," Ebrethil continued. "However, your willingness to put yourself in harm's way to rescue Piplup once you realized what was happening surprised even me. Your self-sacrifice on behalf of Piplup, well, let's just say that it earned you some extra credit. You have effectively broke even."

"Ahh, I see," Ash said, not really knowing what else to say. He knew that it was the best that he could have hoped for under the circumstances, and yet he still couldn't help feeling as if he had failed in some way.

His musings were cut short by a groan of pain as Prof. Oak stirred and opened his eyes. Everyone turned to look, and Ebrethil knelt down beside Oak, looking concerned.

"Are you alright, Sammy?"

Oak looked dazed for a moment, then turned his head to glare accusingly at Ebrethil.

"How many times have I told you not to call me 'Sammy'! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"He's fine," Ebrethil announced to the group at large, grinning. "Sorry Samuel, but you know how it is with old habits."

Oak grunted and sat up, looking around. His eyes took in Ash on his feet once more with all of his pokemon around him, then wandered over the crowd, still crowded around them all.

He blinked.

"Did I miss anything?"

Ash, Brock, Pikachu and the rest all glanced at Ebrethil, who hesitated for a moment, before shrugging nonchalantly.

"Not too much, Sammy. Don't worry."

The sound of Oak's gnashing teeth could be heard even over the peals of raucous laughter.

OOOOO

"The battle between Ebrethil and Dawn will now recommence!" Brock called out.

Everyone had taken their places once again. Brock was standing in the referees box on the outside of the chalked out battlefield, and Ebrethil and Dawn were facing each other once again. Ash and his friends had reclaimed their observation points in the shade of some nearby trees and the crowd, after much pushing and shoving, had finally found their way back to their own seats as well.

As Brock called for everyone's attention, Ash anxiously studied Dawn's face and posture. She was down to her last pokemon, and he knew that it was almost impossible for her to win. He was worried that she would lose the battling spirit in the face of such an obstacle.

Dawn stirred, as if she had felt Ash's eyes on the back of her neck. Turning, she smiled at him reassuringly, giving him the thumbs up. Ash raised his eyebrows. Dan giggled slightly and winked.

Why on earth did she giggle? Didn't she know how bad her situation was?

Ash shook his head. _Girls._

"Let the battle begin!" Brock cried.

"Quilava, spotlight!" Dawn called out. In a flash of white and blue energy, Quilava appeared by her side, rubbing her leg affectionately before taking its place on the battlefield, looking across at Ebrethil, who smiled again before looking at Dawn.

"Once again I am sorry for disregarding your other pokemon earlier in our battle. They did very well, under the circumstances."

"Really?" Dawn asked uncertainly.

"Oh yes. Mamoswine's escape using Dig was a solid strategy and would have worked in most situations, but you need to remember that when a pokemon is underground, size DOES matter."

"I'll keep that in mind," Dawn called back, grinning sheepishly.

"Well then, let's get this underway, shall we?"

With that, he flung a pokeball up into the air. Ash saw Dawn's hands clench as she observed his choice. Kabutops was back.

"Just great," Max muttered. "A Rock/Water type against a Fire type. This couldn't be any worse for Dawn."

"Begin!" Brock shouted.

"Kabutops, let's start with Slash!" Ebrethil called out.

Kabutops instantly leaped into the air, its sickles shining a bright white as it aimed a blow at Quilava.

"Quilava, quick, dodge it!" Dawn shouted.

_"__Quil!"_ Quilava cried as it sped out of Kabutops's path, leaving a small trail of dust behind it.

"Dawn, that Kabutops is fast!" Misty called out. "Keep clear of its claws!"

"Right!" Dawn said. "Alright, Quilava let's stick with ranged attacks! Use Swift!"

Quilava opened it's mouth, and a torrent of gold, five-point stars shot out in a stream of light towards Kabutops.

"Take it," Ebrethil said calmly.

With a single motion and a puff of dirt, Kabutops spun on the spot, so that it was facing away from the oncoming attack. The stars shattered against its rock-hard, scaly back, and Kabutops grunted in pain. Once the attack had ceased, it turned back to face Quilava, looking frustrated, but otherwise unharmed.

"Not bad," Ebrethil acknowledged. "What else do you two have?"

"We're just getting warmed up!" Dawn replied evenly. "Quilava, use flamethrower!"

As a stream of flames shot from Quilava's mouth this time, Kabutops simply raised both of its sickles and blocked it. The flames licked against the blades fruitlessly, until finally they were extinguished.

"Simple straightforward attacks will get you nowhere," Ebrethil called to Dawn. "Especially with this type match-up!"

"If you say so," Dawn replied, smiling. "Then it's time for some more contest battling! Quilava, use Circle Swift!"

As Quilava shot more stars out of its mouth, Ash looked on, slightly less tense, as he had seen Circle Swift take down many a strong opponent before. Dawn had taught the technique to all of her pokemon that used Swift, after originally getting the idea from her old Ambipom. During a Circle Swift, the stars did not directly attack the opponent. Instead, they circled it, trapping it in a cage of light. Once the cage was complete it would collapse upon itself, thereby attacking the opponent literally from all sides.

Which was exactly what was happening to Kabutops. The Swift attack was still streaming from Quilava's mouth and wrapping around Kabutops, but it had curled in on itself, using its outer skin to protect from the stars.

"It's not strong enough, May," Max said, worriedly. "What now?"

"I'm not sure, Max." May replied. "Hopefully Dawn with think of something."

As if in answer to their concerned muttering, Dawn's eyes narrowed.

"Quilava, time to heat it up!"

_"__Quiiiiilll!"_ Quilava manged around the attack, evidently straining hard. Suddenly, the stars still shooting out of its mouth started to glow orange, then red. Finally, they caught on fire, the flames streaming out behind each of the stars as they continued to race around and into Kabutops.

"What's going on?" Ash cried out.

"Quilava's using flamethrower on the Swift attack to give it more power," Brock murmured, watching the proceedings.

"Kabutops, use Protect!" Ebrethil called out. At once, Kabutops's body was surrounded in a shimmering green, impenetrable bubble, causing the flaming Swift attack to crumble against the shield.

"Well done," Ebrethil commended Dawn. "A nicely executed combination. Not many pokemon have the skill to launch two attacks simultaneously. You now have our attention."

Dawn smiled, pleased with herself. She and Quilava had been working on perfecting that combination for weeks now, though they had never held it this long before. And from the way Quilava was already panting, she could tell that it'd taken its toll.

"Now, it's our turn!" Ebrethil said still smiling. "Kabutops, use Ancientpower!"

Kabutops's body began to glow with a silver light, growing brighter, and brighter. The light traveled through its body and down its sickles to create a glowing ball of pulsating silver energy between the two blades. Kabutops waited another second, then, with a grunt of effort, flung the ball of energy at Quilava.

"Quilava, use Flame Wheel to dodge!" Dawn called out. Quilava started running, then curled itself into a tight ball and rolled along the ground, faster and faster, flames pouring from it, turning it into a living fireball. The silver orb of Ancientpower missed Quilava by inches, soared out over the lake, and dissipated.

"Great, Quilava." Dawn shouted. "Now make a wide loop to come around for another pass!"

As Ebrethil raised his eyebrow, Ash and the others were similarly confused. In terms of raw power, Flame Wheel was not as powerful as Flamethrower, and Flamethrower had barely scratched Kabutops. Why would Dawn order another, weaker fire-type attack?

"Kabutops, use X-scissor when Quilava's in range!" Ebrethil called out.

"Perfect," Dawn muttered triumphantly. "Quilava, jump onto the X-scissor and keep going!"

"What the-?" Ebrethil muttered, his eyes narrowed before widening suddenly. "Oh, crap! Kabutops, stop right-"

Too late.

As Kabutops's X-scissor sliced through the air, Quilava, still encased in the Flame Wheel, leaped into the air, coming back down to land directly on top of the X-scissor, which continued to zoom past, sending Quilava, still spinning, onto Kabutops's two sickles. Using them like a ramp, Quilava spun up the sickles toward Kabutops, who had just enough time to cry out in shock before Quilava slammed into its chin, sending both of them tumbling backwards onto the ground.

"Kabutops, use Aqua Jet to get Quilava off you!" Ebrethil shouted.

"Quilava, quick! Use Smokescreen!"

As Kabutops prepared to launch itself off the ground in a powerful Aqua Jet, Quilava quickly unleashed a billowing cloud of smoke from its mouth. Kabutops, caught at such close range, coughed, trying to draw breath, and giving time for Quilava to speed out across the battlefield back to safety. Just as it reached its side of the field, Kabutops came blasting out of the Smokescreen cloud, wrapped in a powerful Aqua Jet.

"Oh no!" Max cried. "If that hits, it's over!"

"Quilava, use Flame Wheel, then spin to dodge!" Dawn screamed. Quilava understood her plan.

Jumping into the air and somersaulting, it encased itself in fire once more and pelted toward Kabutops. Just as it was about to make contact, Quilava veered slightly to the left and jumped, spinning as it did so. The Aqua Jet grazed its side, and their was an explosion of steam, but the spinning Flame Wheel had protected Quilava from the worst of the water. Kabutops landed roughly on the ground, skidding to a halt before looking back at Quilava. Even from a distance, Ash could see that Kabutops was becoming frustrated with the situation.

"Well done, Dawn," Ebrethil said, staring intently at Quilava as it completed its mid-air spin and landed on a low hanging branch above the field. "You have done remarkably well, far surpassing my expectations for this match."

"We're not done yet, you know," replied Dawn, smiling, yet still determined. "Quilava, use Flame Wheel down the side of that tree to gain momentum!"

Encasing itself in fire once more, Quilava curled itself and sped down the trunk of the tree before leveling out and zooming back across the battlefield towards Kabutops.

"Actually," Ebrethil replied kindly. "We are. Kabutops, do you remember your Algebra?"

If it were possible, Ash could have sworn Kabutops actually grinned.

With Quilava speeding towards it, Kabutops laid its sickle-like claws on the ground at a gentle slant, almost as if daring Quilava to try the same move again. Quilava did not disappoint. It aimed right for the claws, intending to land another blow to the chin like before.

"Full power, Quilava, do it!" Dawn cried triumphantly.

Quilava smiled to herself as she increased the power of her flame. _With Kabutops giving me such a great ramp, this will be a sure hit, _she thought._ Then, everyone would be so proud of me, I'd be the first one of us to take down one of this guy's team. If I win, then maybe Ash's Quilava will notice my strength...will notice ME..._

With that thought, she spurred herself even faster, aiming right at Kabutops's ugly brown chin to deliver the final blow.

She never made it.

The moment that Quilava touched the tip of its claws, Kabutops flung its claws skyward, propelling Quilava, squealing in surprise and fright, up into the air, arcing across the battlefield, before gravity kicked in and it began to fall, faster and faster, arcing towards the ground at Ebrethil's feet.

"Quilava!" Dawn cried out in fear. Just as Quilava opened its eyes at its trainers call and attempted to right itself in mid-air, white-hot pain burst from its stomach throughout its entire body as boiling water blasted into it. Kabutops had taken aim and fired a powerful Scald attack at precisely the right moment, with the result that Quilava slammed into the nearby tree behind Ebrethil, quivering feebly, and clearly in to state to continue.

"Quilava is unable to battle, Kabutops wins!" Brock called out. "Which means the winner of this match goes to Ebrethil!"

As the crowd burst into cheers, Dawn hung her head. Despite all her efforts, she had still lost, which meant that she had failed Ebrethil's test. Suddenly she heard applause from behind her and looked around. Ash, Brock, Misty, May, Iris, Oak, and even Max, were walking toward her, smiling and applauding gently.

"That was a great match!" Iris said. "You really pulled through there at the end!"

"But I still lost!" Dawn protested.

"Yeah, but you gave them one hell of a fight," Brock said bracingly.

"Ebrethil himself said that you surpassed his expectations," Oak told her gently, laying a hand on her shoulder. "And that's saying something, believe you me."

"Really, you think so?"

Dawn looked over to where Ebrethil, after recalling Kabutops with a word of thanks, had knelt down beside Quilava and examining it. A moment later, Quilava stirred, looked up at Ebrethil, looked around at Dawn and the others, then promptly let out a piteous wail of anguish.

Dawn and the others jumped, looking alarmed. Dawn started to run forward, thinking it was still in pain. Before she had even taken two steps, Ebrethil's left hand shot out behind him, palm up, signaling for her to stop. Dawn skidded to a halt, looking confused and scared. Ebrethil, still not looking at her, shook his head very slightly to either side, then gave her the signal to wait. Dawn hesitated unsure what to do, and Ebrethil gave the signal again, slightly more forcefully.

"Dawn, come here," Oak called to her.

"But," Dawn said, looking back at Quilava as she slowly made her way back to them. "What's wrong with Quilava?"

"I don't know, Dawn. But I have my suspicions." Oak replied gravely. "Regardless, this is a matter in which you should not intervene unless Ebrethil calls you. Let them be for now."

"Why? What's Ebrethil gonna do?" Max asked.

"What he does best," replied the old professor, smiling slightly.

OOOOOOO

As they all turned back to look, Ebrethil had knelt beside Quilava in the grass, one hand placed on its head, moving ever so gently along its soft fur. Quilava was shaking, but not as if it was in pain, but rather as if it was frightened. Ebrethil was murmuring to it in a slow deep voice, but Ash could not catch what he was saying. His tone was rising up and down with each word he spoke, and his hand moved in sync with his voice. It sounded almost like a song or a lullaby.

As Ash listened to it, he felt something stir inside him, in the dark recesses of his mind. A memory like a wisp of cloud, flashing and fading images. And a feeling of warmth, security and purpose.

As soon as Ebrethil finished, the images faded, and the feelings dissipated.

Ash looked around at the others. They were all sitting on the grass, watching Ebrethil. Ash realized with a start that he was sitting on the grass as well, as were all of his pokemon, yet he had no memory of sitting down. He looked down at Pikachu who was reclining in the grass next to him, eyes closed, looking perfectly at ease and content. Beside it lay Bulbasaur, Totodile, Infernape, Snorlax (although that wasn't so unusual), and all the rest of his pokemon. As Ash looked back at his friends, Professor Oak, whose eyes had also been closed a moment before, opened them slowly, almost lazily, and looked over at Ash, smiling.

"Ebrethil always tells me about the wondrous power of music," he said. "I have been truly blessed to witness that which he has told me of. This makes a total of three times. The effect is rather pleasant, is it not?"

"It's wonderful," May said, her eyes still closed. "I felt secure and confident. I haven't felt this confident since I found out we were battling Ebrethil today."

"I felt that too," murmured Dawn. "I bet Ebrethil could even give Nando a run for his money,"

"So you guys all felt it?" Ash asked. They all nodded.

"Cool," he whispered, relieved that it wasn't just him. "What did you make of all those images?"

"Images?" Misty asked, confused. "What images?"

"The images that were fading in and out as he was singing," Ash replied impatiently.

"I didn't see any images," Max told him, looking confused as well.

"Didn't any of you see them?" Ash asked.

"No"

"Nope"

"I didn't"

"But then, what-" Ash muttered, starting to get worried again.

"I suggest you not analyze it too closely," Professor Oak said gently. "Accompanying visions are rare gifts, and such gifts should not be analyzed too closely. Let your mind unravel its mysteries unhindered."

"Ok, I guess," Ash said, looking confused, but turning back to look across the battlefield.

Ebrethil had scooped Quilava into his lap, and was talking to it in a slightly more regular voice, yet still with an almost unearthly gentleness.

"You're worrying yourself over nothing, you know," he was saying to Quilava.

"_Lava, Quilava,"_ Quilava replied avoiding eye contact.

"Do you have any idea how many years I waited for mine?" Ebrethil asked, smiling slightly.

"_Quil! Quilava lava lava!"_

"Please don't insult my intelligence," Ebrethil told it, sighing slightly. "I know that for a Quilava it's for life, and I personally don't condone a life commitment based off of strength alone."

"_Quilava lava Quilava Quil!"_

"You're both here now aren't you?"

"_Quil?"_

"If you're worried about time, no time like the present!"

"_QUIL! QUIL!"_

"Listen to me. I'm going to get up, I'm going to bring him over, and we're going to have a conversation like SENTIENT BEINGS ok?"

"Qui-"

"No _'buts_', no _'ifs_', no '_ands_'," Ebrethil told it firmly before looking up as Pikachu scampered towards them. Ebrethil talked to it quietly for a moment, before turning back to Quilava and continuing what Ash could only assume was an argument of some sort.

Pikachu ran back towards the group, but instead of moving toward Ash, it veered off and headed into the large group of Ash's pokemon, still gathered around a cluster of trees just beyond the battlefield. After a few moments, Pikachu, looking grimly satisfied, reemerged, dragging a bewildered-looking Quilava with it by the hand.

"Pikachu, what are you doing?" Ash shouted.

"_Chu,"_

Ash stared. Pikachu had never ignored him like that before. He opened his mouth to call to Pikachu again, but Professor Oak reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Do _not _interfere, Ash." Oak told him sternly. "This is not a matter for humans. This is between Quilava and, well...Quilava."

"Wait," Dawn said suddenly. "Do you mean-?"

"I believe so, yes," Oak replied, nodding.

"That's so sweet!" Dawn said, turning back to the battlefield, her eyes shining.

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked them.

"Ssshhh!"

Back on the other side of the field, Ebrethil was talking to both Quilava with Pikachu keeping a tight grip on Dawn's Quilava as it gave every intention of wanting to leave the situation as quickly as possible. At one point during Ebrethil's speech, Ash's Quilava started and looked up at Ebrethil, then over at Dawn's Quilava, who was determinately looking anywhere but at him.

Finally Ebrethil finished, and sat back, watching them expectantly. Neither of them moved, nor did Ebrethil, Pikachu, Ash, or anyone else. After what felt like an age, Ash's Quilava glanced at its counterpart before motioning towards the small lake, some fifty yards away, and started walking slowly in that direction, looking back as it did so. Dawn's Quilava appeared rooted to the spot and was shaking.

But not, Ash realized, with fear.

Finally, Pikachu, losing patience, gave Dawn's Quilava a sharp jolt of electricity from the tip of its tail. Quilava started, and looked at Pikachu, who pointed almost imperiously at Ash's Quilava and said

"_Pi."_

Dawn's Quilava hesitated, then walked slowly up to Ash's Quilava and, side by side, they walked away from the group towards the edge of the lake.

Once they had disappeared down the side of a small hill next to the battlefield. Ebrethil sighed, visibly relaxing.

"Thanks, Pikachu," he said offering his hand. Pikachu responded with a high-five, then turned and walked back towards Ash, looking highly pleased with itself.

Well, I think that went rather well," Ebrethil said, walking over to stand behind Dawn and Ash. "I think that they compliment each other rather well...as do their trainers."

Dawn started and looked around at Ebrethil, a blush creeping up her face. Ash however, beamed.

"We do, don't we?" he said. Both Ebrethil and Dawn looked at him with raised eyebrows, Dawn's blush now almost reaching her hairline.

"We always battle great together! I can't wait for our next double match! Can you, Dawn?"

Dawn's face contorted, the blush becoming a scarlet face of rage as she glared daggers at Ash.

"What's wrong?" Ash asked, confused.

Before Dawn could reply, Ebrethil laid a hand on Ash's shoulder and said, almost wearily,

"Giratina have mercy on your soul, my boy. Giratina have mercy on your soul."

**A/N: Wow! that took MUCH longer than I had expected. lol. I didn't expect the chapter to be quite this long, but the story just started to write itself as I'm sure you can understand.**

**Couple things.**

**First of all, I want to once again thank ****Trainer Theta**** for his help, advice, and editing skills. You've been great!**

**Secondly, I am aware that Dawn's Quilava was not officially given a gender in canon, so I took a little artistic license with that one.**

**Thirdly and finally, I have put several clues in this chapter concerning further plot developments. I invite you to guess as to the nature of these clues and their meanings. Those who guess correctly (or very nearly) will receive a confirmation of their suspicions from me, plus a little peak behind the scenes as it were. hehehe :)**

**Regardless, please review with your thoughts and opinions as always!**

**Until next time!**


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